Black travelers share their experiences with Airbnb — and highlight discrimination

Airbnb prides itself on offering more than accommodation. The short-term rental platform refers to the hosts and guests that rent out and stay in homes around the world as a "community." But a community is rarely without problems.

On Friday, NPR hosted a Twitter chat with the hashtag #AirbnbWhileBlack. Airbnb's service — which includes the photos and names of travelers looking for accommodation — has been in the spotlight because of alleged discrimination by hosts against non-white guests.  

The conversation builds on a Harvard Business School study in 2014, which found that "African-American sounding names were roughly 16% less likely to be accepted than their white-sounding counterparts."

Airbnb lists its anti-discrimination policy on its website, stating the company 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."

But while the service can enforce rules against what listings say, enforcing non-discrimination is more complicated: A host could have nothing discriminatory in their listing but refuse booking requests from travelers they either consciously or subconsciously have a bias against.

"We are committed to making Airbnb one of the most open, trusted, diverse, and transparent communities in the world. We recognize that bias and discrimination present significant challenges, and we are taking steps to address them," Airbnb's Head of Diversity and Belonging David King told Mashable in an email. "We welcome the opportunity to work with anyone that can help us reduce potential discrimination in the Airbnb community

Some people, however, said they had not experienced discrimination on the platform.

Several people said that Airbnb's Instant Book feature had been useful, as it removes the interaction in which a host could pass on a guest because of their photo or name.

Other travelers said that, when traveling in a group, they sought to avoid discrimination by having the most white-looking person with the most white-sounding name make the booking request, in a nod to the Harvard Business School study.

In the past year, Airbnb has provided training to employees for recognizing unconscious bias, and last month announced the hiring of King.

This article has been updated with comment from Airbnb

Chinese users rattled by Twitter hiring former state-affiliated exec as its China chief

Last week, Twitter hired Kathy Chen to be its new head of China, despite the social network being blocked in the country.

But Chen's former history working for the Chinese military has sent waves across the Twittersphere, especially among Chinese users who fear this means Twitter plans to start working closely with the Communist government, which has shown no hesitation in censoring online sentiment or issuing blanket bans on sites.

SEE ALSO: Medium is the latest website to be blocked in China

Google and its sites like Gmail and YouTube are blocked in the country, as are Facebook and Instagram, Dropbox, and publications like The New York Times, Bloomberg and The Economist, to name some.

Twitter itself has been blocked in the country since 2009, allowing its Chinese rival, Sina Weibo, to thrive. But Weibo is famously and tightly screened in China by the ruling Communist Party, and posts that offend the government's sensibilities are often deleted by officials.

As a result, Twitter has become a popular alternative for Chinese people, especially those living overseas, to freely express themselves in their native language. Famous Chinese artist and political dissident Ai Wei Wei, for example, is an active user on the platform, where he tweets in both English and Chinese to his 325,000 followers.

Wen Yunchao, a U.S.-based political dissident, noted on his Twitter account that Chen had worked for the Chinese military for seven years and later headed an anti-virus software company in a joint venture with connections to the Ministry of Public Security.

"It's only reasonable to question the direction of a company by its personnel decisions," Wen wrote.

Cisco has been criticized for selling high-end network devices to help authorities in China to build its national firewall. Kathy Chen served Cisco China as its general manager between 2010 and 2013, and was responsible for cooperating with the government. It's worth investigating how much of a role she had in the construction of the Great Firewall of China.

Upon news of her appointment, an Australia-based Chinese artist posted: