Smiles Davis,
Now more than ever, we need to fight for equality and justice. That’s why we recently
announced Project Lighthouse—an initiative to uncover, measure, and overcome discrimination
when booking or hosting a home on Airbnb. We’d like to use information from hosts
and guests in the US to help, so we want to make sure you understand how it works.
Here’s what you need to know:
- We’ll only use information you already share
This project will address discrimination that's based on perception—so we’ll use
first names and profile photos from hosts and guests to help us understand the
perceived race someone might associate with them.
- We’ll use it to uncover patterns of discrimination
We’ll use this information to help us understand when and where racial discrimination
is happening on our platform. Any insights will be used to help develop new features
and policies that create a more equitable experience for everyone.
- Information won’t be tied to your specific account
We know your privacy is important, so we analyze trends in bulk and Airbnb won’t
associate perceived race information with your account. We won’t use this information
in marketing or advertising, and it will only be used for anti-discrimination work.
- We consulted with and solicited input from leading civil rights and privacy organizations to guide us
We know how delicate this work is—so we developed this work with support and input
from leading civil rights organizations like
Color Of Changeand
Upturn, along with privacy organizations like
Center for Democracy & Technology, to make sure our approach is both thoughtful
and respectful of your privacy.
You can
opt outin your Privacy Settings if you don’t want to participate. And though
you can change your mind at any time, your first name and profile photo may be
used if you don’t opt out by August 31, 2020.
Read our frequently asked questions
By including your information, you’re helping us identify and prevent discrimination
from happening on Airbnb—and you’re taking part in an initiative to better understand
how and where discrimination happens on platforms like ours. This is an important
step for our industry, and we’re making the
methodologypublicly available to other companies who want to join in the fight.
In solidarity,
The Airbnb team