AirBnB and racism
Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 3:51 pm
For those of you who are not familliar with Airbnb, it's a service company that let's you rent a guestroom at a home where other people live. Basicaly you pay to be a temporary guest to that family, with bed and a bath and whatever other they offer. For London, where the motel and hotel prices are sky high, Airbnb is really practical to use.
If you are a traveller you create an account and profile at Airbnb and apply to a room from the selections.
However lately there have been problems with Airbnb, not only between guests and homeowners (producing a variety of tales of what can go wrong), but also in terms of an apparent racist bias.
Since the owner of the house you apply to can see your profile (where some users choose to put on a real photo) you have a 16% more chance (according to a Harvard business school study) to get a rejection for your application for a room if you have distinct African roots (so if you are black and have a real profile picture on) or if your name sounds too foreign by 'white' standards.
The same bias appears when black owners list their houses on Airbnb.
Many users tend to change their name slightly, basicaly shortening it into a more culturally ambiguous name, and delete any real picture of themselves to make it possible to get an acceptance.
If you are a traveller you create an account and profile at Airbnb and apply to a room from the selections.
However lately there have been problems with Airbnb, not only between guests and homeowners (producing a variety of tales of what can go wrong), but also in terms of an apparent racist bias.
Since the owner of the house you apply to can see your profile (where some users choose to put on a real photo) you have a 16% more chance (according to a Harvard business school study) to get a rejection for your application for a room if you have distinct African roots (so if you are black and have a real profile picture on) or if your name sounds too foreign by 'white' standards.
The same bias appears when black owners list their houses on Airbnb.
Many users tend to change their name slightly, basicaly shortening it into a more culturally ambiguous name, and delete any real picture of themselves to make it possible to get an acceptance.