Racism is alive and thriving at travel giant, Airbnb.
For years, people have shared demeaning stories that detail
a culture of discrimination by Airbnb hosts. One African-American customer reported
being turned away by a user, so he changed his avatar to depict a White person.
He was accepted, immediately.
Another potential guest told a humiliating account of being
rejected by a host-simply for being transgender.
Bigotry is allowed to thrive at Airbnb because the company
insists on its users supplying profile pictures to use the services they offer.
If they care enough, they will change that requirement.
Tell Airbnb to stop subjecting it users to discrimination
and end its policy that forces people to have profile photos for booking.
These disturbing stories are not mere speculation; they’re facts. Company executives are well aware of the Harvard
Business School study on Airbnb. It uncovered that customers with
African-American sounding names were turned down 16% more than users with White
sounding names. The research inspired them to act by creating a plan to combat
discrimination, but it doesn’t go far enough.
The most problematic issues that enable racism and other
discrimination on the site are still intact. That’s the photo identification rule.
Sign the petition and challenge Airbnb to stop supporting
inequality on its site. Say no to hate. Stop forcing users to have photo
identification on their profile.
More information
The New York Times. 21 June 2016.
The Guardian. 17 November 2016.