A new survey from Morning Consult and the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) has found support among Americans for amending federal law regarding Airbnb and other short-term rental services. According to the report, 76 percent of Americans believe short-term rental sites should be held accountable for complying with local laws, and 73 percent support an amendment to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) to stop companies such as Airbnb and HomeAway from invoking the federal law to avoid compliance with state and local ordinances.
Morning Consult said that short-term rental platforms have been using CDA Section 230 to sue city governments for enacting ordinances that would require them to remove illegal rental listings from their websites.
Here are some more findings from the report, which was conducted by Morning Consult on August 27 – 29 on a sample of 2,200 adults:
- 76 percent agreed that “if Airbnb is making a profit from short-term rentals on its site, it should ensure the owner renting the property follows local laws and safety requirements.”
- 77 percent agreed “Airbnb should be required to remove rental listings from its website that are classified as illegal or banned by local government laws.”
- 78 percent agreed “Communications Decency Act (Section 230) should be amended to make it clear that web sites are accountable for removing illegal products or services.”
- 73 percent agreed “Communications Decency Act (Section 230) should be amended to remove potential loopholes that companies such as Airbnb could use to avoid local laws meant to prevent illegal rentals.”
Morning Consult said that its survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percent.
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