Airbnb has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the city
and county of San Francisco to fight a city
ordinance that calls for Airbnb to remove listings not registered with the local
government's Office of Short Term Rentals or face fines of up to $1,000 per
day, per listing.
In the complaint, filed on Monday in the Northern District
of California, Airbnb claims the ordinance, which was passed by the city's board
of supervisors this month and enacted on Friday, is a violation of the
Communications Decency Act of 1996, the Stored Communications Act and the First
Amendment.
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act states: "No provider or user of an interactive
computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any
information provided by another information content provider." In its
complaint, Airbnb asserts that the new ordinance infringes on the CDA by
treating Airbnb as the publisher or speaker of third-party content, i.e., the
listings of its hosts.
The Stored
Communications Act pertains to the voluntary and compelled disclosure of
"stored wire and electronic communications and transactional
records" held by third-party Internet service providers. Airbnb claims
that San Francisco's requirement for Airbnb to disclose customer information violates
the SCA and the First Amendment.
This is the first time Airbnb has sued a city in
which it operates, according to The Wall
Street Journal. The ordinance is scheduled to take effect on July 24.