Kutcher’s talk with Brian Chesky was part of a three day event in downtown LA titled “Airbnb Open: A Festival of Hosting”. The event promoted Airbnb as helping people share their lives and homes to increase their opportunities to travel. However, with at least 84%of Airbnb hosts in LA listing two or more properties, the majority of Airbnb’s business is not part of a local sharing economy but rather a large profit economy that comes at the at the expense of low income families, Palestinians, and anyone else who gets in the way.
Since January 2016, the Stolen Homes Coalition has been asking Airbnb to stop listing homes in Israeli settlements. The coalition includes the American Muslims for Palestine, CODEPINK, Friends of Sabeel – North America, Jewish Voice for Peace, Sum of Us, US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, and the US Palestinian Community Network. In March 2016 they delivered over 140,000 signatures to Airbnb offices around the world. In June they delivered over 150,000 signatures to Fidelity, one of the biggest investors in Airbnb. Yet, Airbnb has still not ended their complicity in Israel’s violations of Palestinian human rights. In September 2016 Airbnb adopted a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination by hosts. The company hired prominent advisors, including former US Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., to help them develop the comprehensive policy. However, the policy does address Israel’s state structured discrimination against Palestinians where settlements are designated as Jewish-only.
The common theme between Airbnb’s refusal to remove settlements listings and attempts to evade city regulations on short term housing rentals is the company preferencing profits over people. As I stood on the stage next to him, Ashton stated that, “[Airbnb] is about bringing people together, and about loving one another.” Further exacerbating an already dire affordable housing crisis and contributing to Palestinian home demolitions, freedom of movement restrictions, and state sponsored discrimination is not working towards the harmonious loving Airbnb world that Ashton envisions.