Airbnb officials say that the site canceled some bookings in Charlottesville, VA when it became clear that the reservations were related to a white nationalist rally this weekend.
AirBnB says that after being compelled to void some reservations related to this weekend’s violent “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, VA, the company will move to aggressively deny bookings to avowed white nationalists in the future. Airbnb officials say that members of the organized hate groups are in violation of existing agreements in place for both overnight guests and hotels owners alike.
Calling the hate on display in Charlottesville “shocking,” Airbnb co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk told Bloomberg that the company is determined to step up the enforcement rules already in place. “More broadly we try to take a very strong stance against discrimination and hatred,” Blecharczyk explained. “We actually make every one of our users sign a pledge when they sign up that they will not discriminate and exhibit hatred. Whenever we become aware of such examples they are permanently banned from the platform.”
Blecharczyk added that Airbnb acted quickly this weekend to invalidate bookings and ban some users from the accommodation sharing site entirely when it became clear that properties were being used as part of a radical alt-right event. “We felt that was completely incompatible with our values as a business – so we took a strong stance,” he told Bloomberg TV on Monday.
The self-described “white pride” event in Virginia made international headlines after hundreds of torch-carrying attendees, some heavily armed, marched in the streets while chanting racist and anti-Semitic slogans. The organized rally turned violent and culminated in the tragic death of 32-year-old Heather Heyer who was viciously run down when a car plowed into a crowd of counter-protesters.