@Michelle2867 It has always been Airbnb policy that hosts have to accept ESAs and service animals (the exception is hosts with shared spaces, who can say no to all animals if it poses a health or safety risk).
What is new is this place to enter the number of pets on the booking form, along with that wording about ESAs, which is so blatantly designed to encourage all guests to try to claim their pet is an ESA.
As you say, it's a really bad situation, because it makes a mockery of those who really do need service animals. Hosts who wouldn't have any issues with accepting true, well-trained service animals and ESAs don't want to be open to animals at all because so many pet owners lie without conscience just so they can bring Fido with them everywhere. So the hosts look like the bad guys, when it's the lying pet owners who have created this situation.
There's been plenty of outcry from hosts about this, but Airbnb obviously doesn't care.