Post by High Priestess on Feb 25, 2016 17:09:39 GMT
See the article here:
fusion.net/story/272780/airbnb-new-york-data-purge/
In a pair of letters sent to state legislators and Airbnb users in New York, Airbnb admitted that it purged more than 1000 New York City listings from the site before publicly releasing data to regulators as part of a push to publicize corporate transparency.The data culling made it appear as though there were fewer professional hosts with multiple listings using the site to make a living off illegal short-term rentals. In other words, Airbnb removed from its data hundreds of the very listings that were the subject of regulatory concern—not exactly transparency.
“We removed roughly 1500 listings,” Airbnb admitted in a letter to New York users on Wednesday.
The data cleanse, Airbnb said, was “an effort to remove listings that appeared to be run by commercial operators and did not reflect Airbnb’s vision for our community.”
After a report earlier this month revealed that the number of hosts with multiple listing had suddenly, sharply declined in the weeks just prior to the data release, Airbnb refused to directly respond to my questions about whether it had manipulated data. The company said elsewhere that the sudden dip could be the result of a listings surge during “the busy marathon and Halloween weekend.”
In a statement to Fusion, Airbnb emphasized that this was not the first time it had removed listings.
“We released our Community Compact and made clear that we were serious about tackling affordable housing issues,” a spokesperson said via email. “We took action and the data shows that our community continues to change for the better. We’ve removed listings before and we won’t hesitate to do so again.”
“Airbnb’s business model depend on changing regulations in cities around the world, so the big question is whether the company can be trusted,” Slee told me. “It denied the removal of listings to whitewash their report: now it is admitting the action. This is not the behaviour of a trustworthy company.”
Airbnb very well may have purged listings that violated site rules. But the timing turned what might have been routine maintenance into a sneaky numerical sleight of hand.
My two cents: I can't say I blame Airbnb for trying to manipulate its data to its own advantage. Doesn't every corporation try to do this?
fusion.net/story/272780/airbnb-new-york-data-purge/
In a pair of letters sent to state legislators and Airbnb users in New York, Airbnb admitted that it purged more than 1000 New York City listings from the site before publicly releasing data to regulators as part of a push to publicize corporate transparency.The data culling made it appear as though there were fewer professional hosts with multiple listings using the site to make a living off illegal short-term rentals. In other words, Airbnb removed from its data hundreds of the very listings that were the subject of regulatory concern—not exactly transparency.
“We removed roughly 1500 listings,” Airbnb admitted in a letter to New York users on Wednesday.
The data cleanse, Airbnb said, was “an effort to remove listings that appeared to be run by commercial operators and did not reflect Airbnb’s vision for our community.”
After a report earlier this month revealed that the number of hosts with multiple listing had suddenly, sharply declined in the weeks just prior to the data release, Airbnb refused to directly respond to my questions about whether it had manipulated data. The company said elsewhere that the sudden dip could be the result of a listings surge during “the busy marathon and Halloween weekend.”
In a statement to Fusion, Airbnb emphasized that this was not the first time it had removed listings.
“We released our Community Compact and made clear that we were serious about tackling affordable housing issues,” a spokesperson said via email. “We took action and the data shows that our community continues to change for the better. We’ve removed listings before and we won’t hesitate to do so again.”
“Airbnb’s business model depend on changing regulations in cities around the world, so the big question is whether the company can be trusted,” Slee told me. “It denied the removal of listings to whitewash their report: now it is admitting the action. This is not the behaviour of a trustworthy company.”
Airbnb very well may have purged listings that violated site rules. But the timing turned what might have been routine maintenance into a sneaky numerical sleight of hand.
My two cents: I can't say I blame Airbnb for trying to manipulate its data to its own advantage. Doesn't every corporation try to do this?
