Airbnb

Harvard researchers reported in 2015 that requests from guests with distinctively African American names were roughly 16% less likely to be accepted than identical requests with white-sounding names. Airbnb’s own 2020 announcement said it still had not achieved the goal of reducing all bias. Project Lighthouse is a measurement program, not proof discrimination ended.

• ~16% penalty
  2015 Harvard study: Black-sounding names ~16% less likely to be acceptedThe NYT reported on December 11, 2015, on a Harvard working paper finding “widespread discrimination” by Airbnb hosts. Fictional guests with names such as Lakisha or Rasheed were roughly 16% less likely to be accepted than identical guests with names such as Brent or Kristen. That is a field experiment, not a court judgment. Airbnb later commissioned a civil-rights audit and, in 2020, Project Lighthouse.Source: NBER (Harvard working paper) ↗
• Documented bias
  Discrimination on the platform was the reason for the programUSA Today and Axios reported that Project Lighthouse responded to racial discrimination Black users faced when booking or hosting. Chesky said Airbnb had not achieved the goal of reducing all bias. The 2016 audit and later product changes are the company’s account of a problem it had not fully solved.Source: Airbnb Newsroom ↗