Airbnb users attending a far-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, are complaining that their reservations were canceled and accounts closed because of their affiliation with the rally.
The Unite the Right rally is expected to draw hundreds to the area Aug. 12 for an event the Southern Poverty Law Center is calling the “largest hate-gathering of its kind in decades,” Fortune reported.
Airbnb seemed to confirm it removed the accounts in a statement that said the users violated its terms of service, to which all members agreed when signing up for an account. According to Gizmodo, the Airbnb Community Agreement says “members of the Airbnb community accept people regardless of their race, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or age.”
The statement continued: “When through our background check processes or from input of our community we identify and determine that there are those who would be pursuing behavior on the platform that would be antithetical to the Airbnb Community Commitment, we seek to take appropriate action including, as in this case, removing them from the platform.”
The rally will to protest the town’s decision to remove the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, and white nationalist Richard Spencer is scheduled to speak.
It wasn’t clear how Airbnb determined the account holders whose accounts it canceled were planning to attend the rally or had ties to far-right groups, the New York Post reported.
Airbnb was previously criticized when some of its hosts were reported for discriminating against certain guests.
Some Twitter users supported Airbnb’s actions, while others thought the company showed the intolerance it claims to be against.
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