Accommodation-sharing site Airbnb has introduced new policies to address reported racial discrimination against non-white guests.
Among the changes are minimising users’ photos during the booking process, asking users to sign an anti-discrimination agreement and expand the instant booking scheme, which allows guests to book rooms immediately and without specific approval from the host.
The announcement follows months of criticism of Airbnb, sparked partly by comments under Twitter hashtag #AirbnbWhileBlack about discrimination against black people.
A recent Harvard University study found that guests from “distinctively” African-American names are roughly 16 per cent less likely to be accepted than guests with white-sounding names.
"Bias and discrimination have no place on Airbnb, and we have zero tolerance for them," said Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky. "Unfortunately, we have been slow to address these problems, and for this I am sorry."
Some critics had wanted the photo policy removed altogether, but Airbnb said it was an important security feature.
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