Airbnb Project Lighthouse Methodology [pdf]

Here is the announcement Airbnb is sending to users:

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Subject: How you can help us fight discrimination

Now more than ever, we need to fight for equality and justice. That’s why we recently announced Project Lighthouse—an initiative to uncover, measure, and overcome discrimination when booking or hosting a home on Airbnb. We’d like to use information from hosts and guests in the US to help, so we want to make sure you understand how it works.

Here’s what you need to know:

• We’ll only use information you already share

This project will address discrimination that's based on perception—so we’ll use first names and profile photos from hosts and guests to help us understand the perceived race someone might associate with them.

• We’ll use it to uncover patterns of discrimination

We’ll use this information to help us understand when and where racial discrimination is happening on our platform. Any insights will be used to help develop new features and policies that create a more equitable experience for everyone.

• Information won’t be tied to your specific account

We know your privacy is important, so we analyze trends in bulk and Airbnb won’t associate perceived race information with your account. We won’t use this information in marketing or advertising, and it will only be used for anti-discrimination work.

• We consulted with and solicited input from leading civil rights and privacy organizations to guide us

We know how delicate this work is—so we developed this work with support and input from leading civil rights organizations like Color Of Change and Upturn, along with privacy organizations like Center for Democracy & Technology, to make sure our approach is both thoughtful and respectful of your privacy.

You can opt out in your Privacy Settings if you don’t want to participate. And though you can change your mind at any time, your first name and profile photo may be used if you don’t opt out by August 31, 2020.

Read our frequently asked questions: https://www.airbnb.com/resources/hosting-homes/a/a-new-way-w...

By including your information, you’re helping us identify and prevent discrimination from happening on Airbnb—and you’re taking part in an initiative to better understand how and where discrimination happens on platforms like ours. This is an important step for our industry, and we’re making the methodology publicly available to other companies who want to join in the fight.

In solidarity,

The Airbnb team