Recently, short-term rental platform Airbnb (Chinese named "Airbnb") announced that it will change the way user profiles are displayed in its app, the name of the guest who booked the room will be replaced with an initial initial, and only after confirming the reservation, the owner can see the full name of the guest.
Airbnb said the move was made to prevent racial prejudice and discrimination and, starting Jan. 31, was the first to test in Oregon, usa, for at least two years.
Airbnb announced it would change the way it displays user profiles in its app to prevent racial discrimination, spearheading the test in oregon, USA.
Airbnb's change in the way its user profiles are displayed stems from a lawsuit in Oregon in 2019. According to NBC News, the plaintiffs in the lawsuit are three African-American women from the Portland area of Oregon. They accused Airbnb of violating Oregon's public accommodation law by requiring users to display their full names and photos, allowing hosts to discriminate against black users.
The lawsuit was settled, and Airbnb said it would take action to eliminate bias. But it wasn't until December 22 last year that Airbnb officially released a statement on its official website, saying it would update the way users display their profiles on their platforms. Subsequently, a company spokesperson said that given that the impact of the change is not yet known, the regulation is currently limited to Oregon.
In fact, as early as 2016, Airbnb was accused of discrimination. Under the hashtag #AirbnbWhileBlack on a social platform, many black users shared their own incidents of racism and prejudice when using Airbnb. Many said that landlords refused to check in because of their names.
One user wrote, "I have a bachelor's, master's, or doctorate," but still can't rent a room. Twitter screenshot
Leadstarter Quirtina Crittenden said she launched the topic because she was often rejected when renting on Airbnb or was told she had been booked — even though all the listings were still available during her search. Crittendon suspected it was because of the color of his skin and adjusted his profile.
"I changed my name to Tina, replaced my selfie avatar with a picture of a Chicago cityscape, and sure enough, I had no problem booking on Airbnb." Crittenden said.
#AirbnbWhileBlack话题的发起者Quirtina Crittenden. Screenshot of ABC News video
A 2016 harvard business school study also found that Airbnb guests whose names sound African-American are 16 percent less likely to be accepted by hosts than those whose names sound white.
Airbnb said it has taken several steps to change this situation, in addition to changing the way users' profiles are displayed, the company has also partnered with Color Of Change to launch project lighthouse under the guidance of civil rights and privacy experts, which aims to more effectively identify and eliminate racial discrimination and prejudice faced by black users and other people of color when using the platform.
"While we've made progress, there's still a lot of work to be done and we continue to work with our landlords, clients, and civil rights leaders to make our communities more inclusive." Airbnb wrote in a statement.
In recent years, in response to the occurrence of some social crimes, Airbnb has continuously implemented "crackdowns" by adjusting community regulations. During Halloween 2019, a fatal shooting in a rental house in California killed five people, and local news reported that there were more than 1,000 people in the house. Airbnb banned "party house" rentals and imposed stricter rules on family gatherings, restricting local or instant bookings to guests who don't have a positive review record on the platform.
Last November, Airbnb's restrictions on bad users were further extended to Reservations for New Year's Eve. The regulation is also implemented in Canada, Brazil, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Australia, New Zealand and other countries. Airbnb said people with a good track record on the site would not be subject to this restriction, "And hosts in our community welcome this ongoing crackdown." These can help us improve our defenses against unauthorized and destructive events. ”