Airbnb is credited with a growing revolution in the way that lodging works across the world, but the hashtag #AirbnbWhileBlack paints a picture that is starkly different from how the service is marketed.

Black customers took to Twitter expressing dissatisfaction with the service using what can only be described as discrimination. The hashtag, created by Quirtina Crittenden, formulated a perspective of renting using Airbnb with a name not traditionally accepted by mainstream America.

Quirtina’s story encouraged others like it to circulate, and a seemingly universal experience on Airbnb that seemingly requires users of color to follow a specific set of rules in order to have a higher chance of successfully booking rentals.

Present yourself as a white person in every way possible.

After being denied time after time, Crittenden changed her photo to an ambiguous cityscape and shortened her first name to Tina, and things immediately changed.

This perpetuation of discrimination and bigotry is not a fluke or an occasional occurrence, instead a prevalent factor in the usage of many social apps and online services that we use today. A study conducted by Harvard Business School students Michael Luca, Benjamin Edelman and Dan Svirsky determinedly measured that users they generated with names considered to be black had 16 percent less success of being accepted as traditionally white sounding ones. The same also goes for hosts that are black. The study shows that black hosts typically make less money on the properties they rent.

Racial discrimination has existed long before Airbnb. The company cannot be held responsible for the social biases of the users that populate and participate in its service. However, Airbnb can be held accountable for the lack of policy implementation that allows this kind of socially problematic behavior to go unchecked. The amount of time that has passed without response or reform after the issue has been reported by a segment of its user population repeatedly and proven over time by data shows direct negligence.

This issue, while paramount and of the utmost importance, is not the only problem that Airbnb is currently facing. After releasing host data back in 2015, serious accusations have surfaced about the company’s possible violation of housing laws and how its presence has negatively affected the market, leading to the displacement of residents due to raises in rent.

Data released for the city of New York showed that 55 percent of hosts were renting out entire homes without being present in them, which is illegal if the rental is not for a minimum of 29 days. When the New York Times requested a comment, Airbnb’s head of global policy and public affairs, Chris Lehane said, “The vast majority of the community is doing this in the right way. Our hope is that people will understand 99 percent of people on Airbnb in New York City are using it as an economic lifeline.” Evidence would suggest that the number of users depending on profit from Airbnb to support themselves completely is a very tiny minority, instead.

Airbnb’s fate hangs in the balance in terms of whether the company should go public which would require a disclosure of data to be reviewed by a third party auditor.

What do you think about Airnbnb’s relationship with PoC and the hashtag #Airbnbwhileblack? Let us know in the comments.

Photo: Giphy
Photo: Giphy

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