Airbnb has launched a new slate of anti-discrimination rules that will protect customers who have been rejected based on their appearance.
Minorities, people of certain political or religious denominations, tattooed persons and the LGBTQ community have all been turned down in situations where they requested to rent a room or apartment with the company based solely on their profile pictures.
To combat these injustices, Airbnb has pledged to help potential clients make instant reservations at more than 1 million locations around the country with an “open door” policy, meaning no one has to approve of the people who rent the place.
The move will be in effect as of October 1 of this year, reaching the 1-million milestone on January 1, 2017. Profile pictures will still exist for security purposes, and pieces of information that are objective and beneficial to your profile will remain.
“Discrimination is the opposite of belonging, and its existence on our platform jeopardizes this core mission,” CEO and co-founder Brian Chesky wrote in a statement. “Bias and discrimination have no place on Airbnb, and we have zero tolerance for them.”
The company likely felt pressured to make a radical change to its selection process as users such as Gregory Shelden went to social media to express how they were discriminated against due to race.
Shelden’s tweet read the hashtag #AirbnbWhenBlack, which went viral and garnered him a group of supporters who reported similar discriminatory practices, leading to a $25 billion class action lawsuit against the room rental service.
