Airbnb drop lawsuit in NYC

[Ange2]

from NYTimes Article Saturday December 3, 2016

...on Friday Airbnb agreed that it would drop the suit as long as New York City enforces the new law only against hosts and does not fine Airbnb.

That law called for fines of as much as $7,500 for ILLEGALLY listing a property on a rental platform such as Airbnb.

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

There is much legal precedence that fines cannot be levied against the web platforms for the illegal activities of the users.  So someone who is illegally listing a NY property will be responsible for their actions alone, not fault Airbnb for creating a platform for legitimate users. 

[Ange2]

@Alice-and-Jeff0   I don't have much knowledge on this, but there has to be a reason that  Airbnb made not penalizing the company a condition of dropping the suit.  Maybe it's because they are middle men, agents,  collecting and paying the fees,  taking a cut, profiting from the illegal listings. It could be argued that Airbnb is more than just a web platform. Uber is having problems because of the collection and payment components of their business and the  legal responsibilities for their drivers are being discussed.  I don't think there are really many laws to deal with the sharing economy, old laws are being bent and molded for it and they  just don't quite fit.  Interesting stuff !

[Jennifer--And-My-Brother0]

Airbnb did not tell us what they knew and we didn't as hosts.  So they made money from our hosting when they knew we were in danger.  That sucks. 

[Jennifer--And-My-Brother0]

because I did not like the last roommate.  I had a separate roommate ad on spare room whcih got no responses while i took in guests.  I don't think that NYC will be okay with me taking in short term guests even though I did not know I was illegal so I guess I will be fined.  This sucks. 

[Jennifer--And-My-Brother0]

that means the nan doyle article where she got wiped on appeal is fake news.