Airbnb Removes 4,000 Accounts for Violating Its Non-Discrimination Policy

Airbnb introduced on Tuesday it has eliminated almost 4,000 accounts globally from its platform this yr, after discovering these customers had violated its antidiscrimination coverage. The report was revealed by Project Lighthouse, an antidiscrimination initiative Airbnb launched in 2020, and located that the variety of accounts eliminated decreased from 5,100 final yr.

In a news release, the corporate stated it has used Project Lighthouse as a method to “uncover and address disparities in how people of color experience our platform, and how we are using these findings to guide our work to fight discrimination and make Airbnb more open and inclusive.”

Since Airbnb was based almost 15 years in the past, it has grown to encompass greater than 4 million hosts, however since June 2020, about 1.2 million customers have been additionally denied entry or faraway from the platform for not adhering to or committing to its nondiscrimination coverage.

Project Lighthouse’s report revealed the most important racial disparity was between visitors perceived to be Black who had a 91.4% success charge when reserving versus visitors perceived to be white who had a 94.1% success charge.

Laura W. Murphy, a senior adviser for Airbnb’s anti-discrimination work, stated within the information launch, “I am excited that Airbnb is embracing transparency by using this report to share this data with the public.” She added that the corporate “is once again demonstrating its genuine commitment to fighting discrimination.”

To fight discrimination coverage violations, Airbnb carried out an immediate e book function that permits customers to e book an area with out requiring the approval of the host. The firm additionally up to date its options in 2018 for listings that require the host’s approval earlier than the reserving is accepted. Under the function, hosts can’t view the visitor’s profile image till after they settle for the reservation.

“We are working to better understand how to increase trust between hosts and guests throughout the reservation process,” the corporate wrote in its information launch. “That includes exploring changes to host and guest profiles to highlight information that can foster more connection. At the same time, we will further explore the impact that other features may have on the opportunity to create bias.”

The firm says it would proceed to innovate its platform utilizing the knowledge uncovered by Project Lighthouse to additional increase its “ability to analyze reservation rejections,” and actively implement its insurance policies.

Airbnb Co-founder and CEO, Brian Chesky, stated within the launch, “Airbnb is built on trust, and we will continue to innovate and design new products and initiatives that increase acceptance and combat bias.”