Airbnb tries experiment in Oregon to fight rental bias: NPR

In an ideal world, sites like Airbnb could operate without bias or bias. They would provide the same services to all registered users looking to book a rental, regardless of race. But that doesn’t seem to be the case, and studies have shown that some hosts discriminate based on profile pictures and African-American sounding names.

Now the real estate rental company is trying an experiment to help fix the problem, changing the way the profile names of Oregon-based customers appear during the booking process. For the next two years, hosts will only see a potential guest’s initials — not their first name — until the reservation is complete.

The move comes nearly 2.5 years after Airbnb settled a lawsuit with three African-American women who alleged the site allowed hosts to discriminate against black users by displaying their full names and photographs, in violation of privacy laws. Oregon’s public lodging.

“This update is consistent with the voluntary settlement agreement we reached in 2019 with individuals in Oregon who raised concerns about how guest names are displayed when they seek to book an announcement,” the company said in a statement. declaration.

“As part of our ongoing work, we will learn all the lessons from this process and use them to inform future efforts to combat bias,” he continues, noting that the new system will be fully implemented in the Status by January 31.

The company changed its photo policy in 2018, withholding images until a host accepts a reservation. At the same time, it gave hosts the option to choose whether or not to require guest photos.

Social scientists have amassed a a wealth of studies showing patterns of discrimination against people with black-sounding names. A Harvard Business School field study in 2016, looking specifically at behavior patterns on Airbnb, found that guests with “distinctly African American names are approximately 16% less likely to be accepted than identical guests with distinctly white names”.

The study prompted Airbnb co-founder Brian Chesky to publish a excuses to users, saying, “Prejudice and discrimination have no place on Airbnb, and we have zero tolerance for them.” Airbnb also began requiring users to accept a non-discrimination pledge and launched the Instant Book feature, which allows hosts to offer to have their homes reserved immediately without prior approval from a specific guest.

Looking ahead, the company pledged to “continue to work with our hosts and guests, as well as civil rights leaders to make our community more inclusive.”