Airbnb Should Delist Potentially Illegal Xinjiang Rentals, Lawmaker Says
Airbnb may be violating U.S. sanctions by listing more than a dozen homes for rent on land owned by a sanctioned paramilitary Chinese entity, said Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. In a Dec. 7 letter to the company, Rubio said Airbnb…
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is “complicit in enriching an organization facilitating horrific human rights abuse” and called on Airbnb to delist the rentals. Airbnb lists homes for rent on land owned by Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, which was sanctioned by the Treasury Department in 2020 for helping to create a surveillance and detention program for Muslim minority groups (see 2111300031 and 2007310028). Although the company said it operates a sanctions compliance program and doesn’t believe it’s violating sanctions, Rubio said he doesn’t understand how transactions related to the rentals are legal. “How a paramilitary organization complicit in heinous human rights abuses could pass such a screen is beyond comprehension,” Rubio said. “By continuing to allow these listings, Airbnb is implicitly endorsing and encouraging travel to Xinjiang, a region host to an ongoing genocide.” An Airbnb spokesperson and Treasury spokesperson declined to comment.