@Rob468 and everyone else who thinks this is heroic, think again.
Please look beyond the current reactionary PR spin doctoring and research the historical facts. This is not the first example of Airbnb violent deaths, avoidable misrepresentations, and callous disregard for safety and property, and HOSTS are being scapegoated, when hosts have been the ones warning Airbnb about these very issues for YEARS.
The ONLY aspect Mr Chesky has included in the "7 Million" campaign is LISTING accuracy. It mentions NOTHING ABOUT VERIFYING GUESTS. Look at this, published 2 days ago! It totally blaming hosts for Airbnb's platform-wide shortcomings and is utterly insulting to the memory of those who were violently murdered on Airbnb's watch and their grieving families along with every host on this platform: https://news.airbnb.com/in-the-business-of-trust/
It's Airbnb's business to "verify" every listing, profile, host, and guest BEFORE they're allowed to be active. It's part of the job.
The fact that they admit they've not done so in the wake of horrific violence, multiple deaths, and thousands of scams in which they've sided with the scammer and illegal house party organizers speaks volumes in terms of the real profit-at-all-costs priorities and a serious moral and ethical lapse in the inherent disregard for the risk and cost to others.
LIFE is priceless and death is final. Prevention is inexpensive.
Performing basic industry vetting requirements would clean up most of the messes before they happen, preventing much of the trauma and criminal activity that has occurred.
Airbnb has increasingly become a magnet for scammers and criminals precisely because they're notorious for not requiring guests to prove who they are, don't vet anyone, and refund every scammer and partying property trasher out there....and, go read the fine print on "verification" if you want to read Policy and Terms of Service as clear as mud and walk away shaking your head.
Short story:
"7 Million Verifications" in "Airbnb speak" is a form of independent host-bashing to dodge responsibility for their own deadly shortcomings.
Airbnb "verification" means an internal process in which Airbnb "polices itself" by randomly selecting a small percentage of cases in which they compare the name on the ID to the rest (if any) personal information/form of payment provided by whoever, to see if they match. It has nothing to do with professional ID verification to be sure they are legal or valid or a basic criminal background check to check for convictions for violence, felonies, sex offender status, or terrorist activity of anyone active on the Airbnb platform.
The statement "7 million verifications" was aimed to focus blame on the very hosts who sounded the alarm over several years, designed by expensive PR "Fixers" to make Mr Chesky sounds like a hero to deceive investors for the upcoming IPO. In actuality it means an arbitrary, unprofessional, and meaningless endeavor in mitigating future risk, and is nothing more than a means of deflecting attention from the real issues to confuse the public into thinking Airbnb will be safer for the impending IPO. Nothing has changed, it's just business as usual. The deaths were a messy side effect that is being handled like a payoff.
Other terms for this are "smoke and mirrors, "gaslighting" "sleight of hand" "calculated distraction," "hushing" and "profit over people."
Anyone who's a parent, or has a shred of compassion, empathy, or moral consciousness is mortified that this has happened and nauseated by how it is being handled by the corporate leadership.