Home rental service Airbnb said in a Tuesday release that it brought in more than $425 million in tourism taxes to the state of Tennessee since 2018.
According to the company, $130 million of that tax revenue was remitted in 2023 alone.
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A new database shows that some of Americans’ favorite companies—such as Airbnb, Amazon, and Disney—disregard religious freedom and free speech.
Alliance Defending Freedom, a legal organization devoted to protecting religious freedom and other First Amendment rights, joined with Inspire Insight, an investment tool that provides data on the religious values of companies, to produce the second annual Business Index ranking companies by Viewpoint Diversity Score.
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Arizona – a popular vacation destination with thousands of short-term rental listings protected by legislation from most limitations – will soon allow cities to further regulate them. It will be up to cities to enact and enforce them.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed SB 1168 into law, allowing cities and towns to “govern short-term rentals via licenses or permits, notifications and liability insurance, as well as the ability to fine owners or management companies when their property occupants violate community ordinances,” his office said.
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Airbnb made its temporary ban on parties at short-term rentals permanent.
In August 2020, the company announced a global ban on all parties and events at Airbnb listings. That included a cap on occupancy at 16.
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Ohioans who want to rent their homes on a short-term basis as vacation rentals or an AirBNB could not be stopped by local governments if a bill recently introduced in the Ohio House becomes law.
House Bill 563 would prohibit local regulations that would place outright bans on short-term rentals and limit the duration of use. It would not stop local municipalities from regulating the rentals but would require those regulations are the same as long-term rentals.
“Ohioans should always have the right to use what is often their most valuable asset, their homes, as an investment to make money through short-term rental,” Rep. Sarah Fowler Arthur, R-Ashtabula, said. “Short-term rentals also help drive traffic to countless small businesses – restaurants, shops and tourist attractions – across the state. Eliminating short-term rentals hurts Ohio’s economy.”
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In December, the United States, United Kingdom and Australia all announced diplomatic boycotts against the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, and since then, several other nations around the world have joined the boycott.
A diplomatic boycott means that government officials from those nations will not attend the Olympic Games. This sent an important message to the citizens of those countries that attending the games even as spectators is immoral and at odds with the spirit of their own nation.
The Chinese Communist Party knew this, and in a preemptive attempt to avoid the embarrassment of empty bleachers, it made a decision on Jan. 17 not to sell spectator tickets to people from outside China’s mainland, and invite in controlled groups instead.
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There is growing bipartisan concern over the power Silicon Valley’s oligopolies wield over American society. Amazon alone controls 72% of U.S. adult book sales, Airbnb accounts for a fifth of domestic lodging expenditures and Facebook accounts for almost three-quarters of social media visits. Just two companies, Apple and Google, act as gatekeepers to 99% of smartphones, while two others, Uber and Lyft, control 98% of the ride-share market in the U.S. Yet, for government to take robust antitrust action against Silicon Valley requires the kind of data it currently lacks: documenting the harm this market consolidation inflicts on consumers. A new RealClearFoundation report offers a look at how amending Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to require platform transparency could aid such antitrust efforts.
When it comes to Silicon Valley’s social media platforms, they have long argued that antitrust laws don’t apply to them because their services are provided free of charge. In reality, users do pay for their services: with their data rather than their money. Companies today harvest vast amounts of private information about their users every day, using that data to invisibly nudge their users toward purchases and consuming ads, or the companies simply sell that data outright.
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Airbnb, a vacation home rental site, is offering free temporary housing to around 20,000 Afghan refugees across the world, the company announced Tuesday.
“As tens of thousands of Afghan refugees resettle around the world, where they stay will be the first chapter in their new lives,” Airbnb CEO and co-founder Brian Chesky said in a statement. “For these 20,000 refugees, my hope is that the Airbnb community will provide them with not only a safe place to rest and start over, but also a warm welcome home.”
Around 3.5 million people living in Afghanistan have been displaced, including around 270,000 due to Taliban advances since January, the U.N. reported on July 13. Around 10,400 people were evacuated by U.S. military flights from Afghanistan Sunday and another 6,660 were taken Monday, according to the Associated Press.
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Facebook Inc let some companies, including Netflix and Airbnb, access users’ lists of friends after it cut off that data for most other apps around 2015, according to documents released on Wednesday by a British lawmaker investigating fake news and social media. The 223 pages of internal communication from 2012 to 2015 between high-level employees, including founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, provide new evidence of previously aired contentions that Facebook has picked favorites and engaged in anti-competitive behavior. The documents show that Facebook tracked growth of competitors and denied them access to user data available to others. In 2014, the company identified about 100 apps as being either “Mark’s friends” or “Sheryl’s friends” and also tracked how many apps were spending money on Facebook ads, according to the documents, referring to Zuckerberg and Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg. The insight into the thinking of Facebook executives over that period could invite new regulatory scrutiny into its business practices. Facebook said it stood by its deliberations and decisions, but noted that it would relax one “out-of-date” policy that restricted competitors’ use of its data. One document said such competitor apps had previously needed Zuckerberg’s approval before using tools Facebook makes…
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by Brad Sylvester Michael Oren, a deputy minister in the Israeli prime minister’s office and the former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., claimed on Twitter that the property rental company Airbnb “blacklists” Israeli apartments in the West Bank, while continuing to allow listings in other disputed territories. Airbnb blacklists Jewish apartments in Judea and Samaria – not Palestinian apartments, not apartments in Turkish occupied Cyprus, in Moroccan occupied Sahara, not in Tibet or the Crimea. Airbnb’s policy is the very definition of anti-Semitism. No one should use its services. — Michael Oren (@DrMichaelOren) November 19, 2018 “Airbnb blacklists Jewish apartments in Judea and Samaria – not Palestinian apartments, not apartments in Turkish occupied Cyprus, in Moroccan occupied Sahara, not in Tibet or the Crimea,” he said in the tweet. Verdict: True Airbnb, which recently announced that it would remove all listings in Israeli settlements of the West Bank, allows listings in disputed regions like Northern Cyprus and Tibet. The company does not do business in Crimea as Oren claimed. Airbnb presently allows listings in the Western Sahara, although it is considering whether to remove those listings. Fact Check: Israel captured the West Bank during the Six-Day War of 1967 and…
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Airbnb, the online service that helps people “monetize their extra space” with short-term rental agreements, has launched a new platform called “Open Homes” that lets homeowners donate that “extra space” and host refugees, saving the federal contractors time and money in meeting the terms of their agreements with the U.S. State Department. By “donating” space in privately owned homes and apartments, any restrictions on use of private property imposed by local governments, can be by-passed. One hundred offers for hosting have already been offered in New York. Airbnb has set a goal “of providing short-term housing over the next five years for 100,000 people in need.” Regulations put in place by the Nashville Metro Council have attempted to curtail the use of privately owned property for short-term rental use, whereas the Memphis City Council opted to take the cash and charge “extra space” hosts the same taxes and fees paid by hotels. Chattanooga’s city government requires specific zoning for short-term rentals except in the unincorporated parts of Hamilton County where only a special permit is required. Knoxville property owners must also secure special permits to profit from short-term hosting. None of the local government ordinances appear to address the scenario…
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