Airbnb slapped with suit for alleged discrimination against black guests

An African-American man who claims he was subjected to race-based discrimination while using Airbnb slapped the company with a proposed class action in a Washington D.C. federal court Tuesday, alleging that the company has routinely violated the Fair Housing Act and the civil rights of people of color. 

The complaint alleges that 25-year-old Gregory Seldon was denied accommodation in Philadelphia in March 2015 due to his race.

Court documents state that he was looking for housing while planning a weekend getaway with friends, and turned to Airbnb as a cost-friendly option. At the time, his Airbnb profile was linked to his Facebook, so it displayed his profile picture, race, education and age when he requested housing. 

He claims an Airbnb host rejected his initial application but subsequently accepted the same application when Seldon re-applied using profiles imitating white men, one under the name "Jessie" and another under the name "Todd." 

The complaint also claims that the company "shamed Selden for speaking out" when he complained about the discriminatory practices.

The host agent balked at his claims and instead told Seldon that “people like [him] were simply victimizing [himself]," according to court documents. 

Seldon is seeking injunctive relief and unspecified damages as part of the class action. 

This is not the first time Airbnb has been accused of not doing enough on discrimination. 

Seldon's story gained attention earlier this year when it helped inspire the viral hashtag #AirbnbWhileBlack, in which a flood of Twitter users shared stories about negative experiences using the house-sharing app and website. 

That conversation also builds on a  2014 Harvard study that found "requests from guests with distinctively African-American names are roughly 16% less likely to be accepted than identical guests with distinctively white names." 

For its part, Airbnb has emphatically denied that it condones racism or discriminatory practices. The company's anti-discrimination policy states that it prohibits "content that promotes discrimination, bigotry, racism, hatred, harassment or harm against any individual or group, and we require all users to comply with local laws and regulations." 

Airbnb's director of public affairs reiterated the company's anti-discrimination policy in an email toMashable. 

"While we do not comment on pending litigation, we strongly believe that racial discrimination is unacceptable and it flies in the face of our mission to bring people together," wrote Nick Papas. "...We are taking aggressive action to fight discrimination and eliminate unconscious bias in our community."