Airbnb's obligation to communicate the list of its hosts to the City of New York has been temporarily suspended by the American courts, with the court affirming the platform's hosting position.
As a result of a long struggle between New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and Airbnb, the American courts have examined the order signed by the city in early August.
The intention of the order is to oblige all hosting sites to provide the City with a list of its hosts as well as all transactions carried out. It should allow the City Hall to enforce New York State laws that prohibit renting accommodations for less than 30 days unless the host is present.
Also read: L’étau se resserre sur Airbnb à New York
This decree is supported by several elected officials who claim that the emergence of Airbnb had significantly worsened the housing crisis in the city by removing apartments from the ordinary rental stock and allocating them to tourists.
But Airbnb, which has its largest market in the Big Apple in the United States with nearly 52,000 properties, found that the ruling violates the Constitution by claiming private data provided by its users and sued New York City Hall.
Also read: Airbnb is suing New York City
Federal Judge Paul Engelmayer of Manhattan found that New York City is in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution and also accepted Airbnb's arguments that the amount of data requested by the city is too extensive.
Following this statement, and thus respecting its line of communication, the platform stated that “The decision today is a huge win for Airbnb and its users, including the thousands of New Yorkers at risk of illegal surveillance who use Airbnb to help make ends meet."
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, however, remains confident that his decree will be implemented: "This law aims to prevent property owners from creating de facto hotels, which is unjust and illegal. This law addresses a real problem."
