Airbnb sues its hometown
Airbnb is now suing San Francisco, its hometown. They are doing this because of a recent law passed in SF that is going to cost them a lot. If you have been living under a rock and haven't herd of Airbnb, they are a company you can rent someone else's home from. You may have seen their "Don't go to ... live there!" campaign on TV.
This new law recently voted on, according to The Verge, services like Airbnb have to have all hosts of the service registered. Airbnb says this is to inconvenient for its users, but if there aren't registered Airbnb will have to take $1000 out of their own pockets for every listing.
The way SF classifies Airbnb, and the way Airbnb classifies itself are two very different things. San Francisco's supervisor David Campos compared the house rental service to a rental car company, which makes sense right? Not according to Airbnb. They are comparing themselves to YouTube and Twitter and saying that the content these hosts "post" is their houses. Campos went on to say, "If you are a rental car agency, you have to make sure the person that you rent that vehicle to has a license before you rent them a car." That is what SF wants Airbnb to do with their hosts and guests, The Verge reported.
The reason Airbnb is presenting themselves to the court like this is because the Communications Decency Act will protect them if the court agrees. This will protect them because according to The Verge, this act says that the company cannot be reposponiable for what their users "post". In this case the users are "posting" houses so it's a little difficult.
Airbnb has had problems with cities before, but suing a city is a first for the company. Who's side are you on and why? Let us know in the comments below. We will bring you updates on this case as they come in.
Source: | The Verge |
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Image Credit: | TechCrunch |
