![]() ![]() ![]() The question of whether Airbnb is a platform people use “to help make ends meet” - and whether most Airbnb hosts are truly renting out “their own homes” - is at the heart of New York’s ongoing battle against the platform. “The court today recognized the fundamental importance of New Yorkers’ constitutional rights to privacy and the security of their own homes.” ![]() “The decision today is a huge win for Airbnb and its users, including the thousands of New Yorkers at risk of illegal surveillance who use Airbnb to help make ends meet,” an Airbnb spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Vox. Judge Paul Engelmayer of the US District Court in Manhattan agreed - and his ruling is a decisive victory for Airbnb. The law, which the City Council passed unanimously in July and would have gone into effect in February, required Airbnb and similar websites to provide city officials with information on every short-term listing in the city, including hosts’ addresses and identities, in order to crack down on those that violate New York’s short-term rental laws.Īirbnb and another listing site, Homeaway, challenged the law, claiming in a joint lawsuit against the city that it violated hosts’ Fourth Amendment right against illegal searches. On January 3, a federal judge blocked a New York law that would have expanded the city’s ability to crack down on Airbnb and other short-term listing sites, the Wall Street Journal reported. Airbnb’s marketing materials tend to opt for the former description in New York City, government officials prefer the latter, and have for years attempted to regulate what they say is rampant illegal activity on the platform. Depending on whom you ask, Airbnb is either a platform where regular folks can make a little extra cash by renting out spare rooms or a hotbed of illegal activity that lets unscrupulous landlords convert regular apartment buildings into unregulated hotels. ![]()
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