Airbnb sues San Francisco — its hometown — to block new rental law

Airbnb filed a lawsuit against its home city of San Francisco (CA) on in an attempt to block new regulation that it said would violate federal protections for Internet companies. The short-term property rental company slammed the city’s new ordinance, which would require Airbnb and similar firms such as VRBO and HomeAway to make sure that hosts register with the city or face a fine. Airbnb challenged the regulation in its complaint and also filed to have a preliminary injunction placed on the ordinance, which will take effect later in June.

In its filing in the US District Court in San Francisco, Airbnb said the city’s regulation violates the Communications Decency Act of 1996, the Stored Communications Act and the company's 1st Amendment rights. “It is a content-based restriction on advertising rental listings, which is speech,” the company said. “These provisions squarely violate the CDA, which prohibits ‘treat[ing]’ websites who host or distribute third-party content, like the Hosting Platforms at issue here, ‘as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider,’ and immunizes them from liability under any ‘inconsistent’ state or local law.”