This series explores surveillance and its intersection with race and civil rights. made possible with support from the Ira A. Lipman Center at Columbia University.
Bethany Hallam was trying to book an Airbnb in Miami when she received a message from the property rental platform that she had been banned due to a “criminal record match”.
“We recently completed an assessment of your Airbnb account, which included a consumption report generated using the Inflection SafeDecision API product offered by Inflection Risk Solutions, LLC.”, Airbnb’s post reads. This report contained a criminal record match, and Airbnb would bar him from booking or hosting on Airbnb, seemingly forever. “Due to this discovery, we regret to inform you that you will not be able to host or book reservations on Airbnb.”
Hallam, who is a city council member for Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, told Motherboard she assumed the match was referring to misdemeanor possession and a DUI charge from nine years ago.
“This whole process is neither right nor fair!” Hallam said. “A third of Americans have some sort of criminal record. People with criminal records should be a protected class against this type of discrimination.
Has Airbnb taken action against your account due to a criminal record match or background check? We would love to hear from you. Contact Samantha Cole by email at [email protected] or on the Signal secure messaging app at +1 646 926 1726.
The platform runs background checks on hosts and guests, and what is checked and when differs between the two. For guests, a background check is performed by a third-party service within 10 days of booking registration, and hosts are verified after they create a listing. Everyone is checked against the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) list, and everyone in the United States is also scanned against “certain state public criminal records databases. and counties as well as state and national sex offender registries.”, according to Airbnb.
According to Airbnb, “minor crimes” like disorderly conduct or possession of marijuana won’t get you kicked off the platform. Crimes such as burglary or robbery, property damage, and fraud may result in “further review, removal, or ineligibility.” Murder, terrorism, rape and pedophilia “may lead” to permanent expulsion.
Hallam tweeted the message she received from Airbnb, and it quickly went viral. An Airbnb support account got back to her and asked her to direct message them for help, which she did. “The next thing I know is that I got an email in my inbox saying my account was reinstated after an ‘evidence-based appeal process,'” Hallam said.
An Airbnb spokesperson told Motherboard, “We understand that there can be a number of reasons why someone may have a criminal conviction on their record, so we’ve developed a grounded appeal process. on evidence that takes into account the type of crime and evidence of rehabilitation when considering reinstatement. We have now reinstated Councilman Hallam’s account based on this process. We appreciate his patience and hope support her on her future travels.
Hallam told Motherboard that she considers this kind of collateral punishment, which sometimes happens years later, to be one of the worst parts of the criminal justice system. “This whole ordeal goes against what is supposed to be one of the founding principles of this country: second chances!” she says. “Airbnb, as a private company, is allowed to create its own policies and procedures, but it must enforce whatever those policies and procedures are consistently and fairly.”
Airbnb has policies against discriminationbut has also been accused in the past of discrimination against sex workers and People with Disabilities. He also recently started suppress partiesand started trying to predict if a house is booked by someone who is likely to throw a party the.
This article is part of Monitoring Status, made possible by a grant from the Ira A. Lipman Center for Journalism and Civil and Human Rights at Columbia University, in conjunction with Arnold Ventures. The series will explore the development, deployment and effects of surveillance and its intersection with race and civil rights.
Comments are closed.