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https://www.wsj.com/articles/airbnbs-section-230-use-underscores-laws-reach-beyond-facebook-11610298001

TECH

Airbnb’s Section 230 Use Underscores Law’s

Reach Beyond Facebook
Home-rental site is caught up in political push to change internet shield even as its efforts to use law
haven’t always worked

Airbnb agreed in a 2017 settlement with San Francisco to build an online system for
hosts to register rentals with the city.
PHOTO: DAVID PAUL MORRIS BLOOMBERG NEWS

By Heather Somerville
Jan. 10, 2021 12 00 pm ET

Listen to this article

7 minutes

As lawmakers and tech executives prepare for a major battle over an internet
liability shield this year, a look at Airbnb Inc.’s ABNB -0.99% use of the law shows
▲

that the stakes go well beyond social-media giants such as Facebook Inc.
FB -0.44% and Twitter Inc. TWTR -1.62%
▲ ▲

The home-rental site isn’t usually mentioned in the heated discourse over
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the 25-year-old legislation that
has shielded internet companies from liability for what users post on their
platforms.

But Airbnb has repeatedly sought protection under the law to avoid
responsibility for listings on its site that several cities say violate local home-
renting rules. It is actively lobbying in the political effort to reshape the law,
even as the record shows that the company’s efforts to use it as a shield haven’t
always been successful.

Top executives from tech companies including Facebook and Twitter have been
compelled to testify several times in front of Congress over Section 230 and how
they moderate content. That debate is sure to become more heated after Twitter
banned President Trump’s personal account Friday, leading him to reissue a call
to repeal Section 230 on grounds that it gives tech companies too much power.

Since 2016, Airbnb has cited Section 230 in seven lawsuits it filed in federal
courts against local governments to avoid responsibility for listings on its site
that violate home-renting laws. While Airbnb had wins against Anaheim, Calif.,
and New York City, in most cases the company lost its argument and faced a
settlement compelling it to abide by some or all of the demands to take more
responsibility for the listings on its website, according to court filings.

The result for Airbnb, which went public last month, has been tougher
regulation, more expenses and less revenue in certain markets. Other
technology platforms will likely encounter a similar outcome, according to legal
scholars and tech investors.

Chris Lehane, Airbnb’s policy chief, said in an interview that regulating online
content is a shared responsibility between tech companies, regulators and
platform users. Airbnb said it is meeting its responsibilities by providing cities
with the ability to monitor home-renting activity and assisting them with
collecting occupancy taxes, among other things.
Mr. Lehane, a former Democratic political strategist, said that Airbnb hasn’t
backed a specific bill to overhaul Section 230 but that new legislation including a
notice-and-takedown mandate, which requires platforms to remove content
once they are notified that it is illegal, is “a reasonable path forward.”

Airbnb has repeatedly sought protection to avoid responsibility for listings on its site
that several cities say violate local home-renting rules.
PHOTO: GABBY JONES BLOOMBERG NEWS

Passed in 1996 as part of the Communications Decency Act, Section 230 states
that online platforms can remove content they deem objectionable while not
being held liable for everything posted on their sites by third parties. That has
allowed online marketplaces to have outside vendors and customer reviews
without being held liable for harmful content. Companies have successfully used
the law to protect themselves from liability for illegal gun sales, fake sports
memorabilia and terrorist recruiting activities.

A repeal of Section 230 would leave Airbnb exposed to lawsuits over a negative
review or a homeowner misrepresenting a house on the site.

U.S. lawmakers have proposed more than two dozen bills to change Section 230,
with Democrats and Republicans airing different grievances. Many GOP
lawmakers have contended that tech platforms have used the law to block
conservative views. Democrats have argued that it has allowed companies to
ignore false and dangerous information spreading online. President-elect Joe
Biden has said the law should be “revoked, immediately.”

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While Airbnb has repeatedly sought protection under the law, its efforts have
demonstrated the shield’s limitations. In 2019, a federal appeals court upheld
home-sharing rules in Santa Monica, Calif., deciding that Section 230 doesn’t
cover online transactions such as home bookings. The ruling paved the way for
more cities to craft and enforce tough home-renting regulations, according to
law professors who studied the situation.

The decision made it “much easier for local governments to do whatever they
want in terms of regulating Airbnb,” said Abbey Stemler, assistant professor of
business law and ethics at Indiana University Bloomington, who co-wrote an
amicus brief for the Santa Monica case.

Mr. Lehane said that the six cities and one county where Airbnb sued are
outliers and that the company has willingly regulated listings on its platform
without seeking Section 230 immunity in the majority of U.S. cities where it
operates. But he didn’t rule out more lawsuits arguing for Section 230
protections when the company decides regulations are unfair to home-rental
hosts.

Legal losses compelled Airbnb to create an operating framework that relied less
on Section 230 for protection. In a May 2017 settlement with San Francisco, the
company’s hometown, Airbnb agreed to build an online system for hosts to
register their rental homes with the city and gave regulators data to police
home-rental activity.
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The settlement’s requirements put a dent in Airbnb’s business. By January 2018,

Airbnb short-term home rentals in San Francisco had dropped by more than
half, to about 3,500. Two years later, they had rebounded only slightly, to fewer
than 4,000, according to city data.

This past fall Airbnb said it expanded that host registration system. A new web
portal is now used by about 40 local and national governments and allows
Airbnb to share data on rentals with regulators and assist them in enforcing
local laws. Whatever changes might loom for Section 230, Mr. Lehane said
Airbnb has demonstrated a potential model for similar platforms in the absence
of some of its protections.

Airbnb’s business has proved resilient, and the company now boasts a market
value of around $91 billion.

“Sophisticated companies can adapt,” said Ms. Stemler. “It’s clearly not the case
that Airbnb will get crushed without blanket immunity” from Section 230.

Write to Heather Somerville at Heather.Somerville@wsj.com

Appeared in the January 11, 2021, print edition as 'Airbnb Underscores Reach of
Law That Shields Web Firms.'
Copyright © 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

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