As we’ve recently seen, California is cracking down on people throwing house parties in defiance of state-ordered bans on large gatherings of people, particularly when they fail to practice social distancing. They’re going so far as to cut off water and electrical services to residents engaging in such behavior. Or at least they would like to crack down on them, assuming they can get the police to enforce the rules. But it’s not just the Governor and Mayor Garcetti who are throwing down the gauntlet and reining in these scofflaws. There’s a new sheriff in town and it’s Airbnb. The company has “taken action against” one guest on their platform who rented out a house for a large party that wound up including a gunfight where multiple people were shot. (Associated Press)

For the first time, Airbnb is taking legal action against a guest for violating its ban on unauthorized parties.

The San Francisco-based home sharing company said Wednesday it is initiating legal proceedings against a guest who held an unauthorized party at a home in Sacramento County, California, last weekend. Three people were shot and wounded at the party.

Airbnb wouldn’t release the guest’s name but said it has removed the guest from its platform.

The problem with this report is that Airbnb is being quite stingy with the details. They’ve either suspended the guest’s account or deleted it, removing them from the platform. Since they have a clearly stated policy about not renting lodgings from hosts to use for large parties, that’s clearly within their rights. But they also claim to be “taking legal action” against the guest.

What does that mean in this context? Further on in the article, we’re informed that the company is seeking “monetary damages” from the guest and they will move to arbitration if a figure can’t be agreed upon. I suppose that might qualify as “legal action” in a sense, but it really sounds more like charging someone a fee for violating the terms of service. But in terms of significant court action, it’s not clear how Airbnb is even involved in the issues encountered as a result of the house party.

If they’re talking about the fact that three people wound up being shot, that’s not Airbnb’s responsibility and it’s really not even the fault of the people who own the home and were renting it out to the guest. The Airbnb user is the one who invited everyone over in defiance of the rules, so they might bear some responsibility, but as always, the people who broke out the guns and started firing are the ones ultimately responsible for their own actions.

If they’re worried about the State’s executive orders regarding large gatherings, now we might be talking about a case of the guest being responsible. Each person violating the prohibition is responsible to a certain degree, but the one who invited everyone over and provided a venue for the party surely carries the most blame.

As the AP points out, Airbnb has already been taking steps to cut down on this form of behavior. They’ve been screening for “high risk” bookings, such as guests renting an entire house for a single night. They’ve also taken the legally dubious step of barring users under the age of 25 from renting entire homes as opposed to single rooms. That sounds like more than enough to me. As we’ve discussed here in the past, Airbnb’s liability in all of these scenarios seems to be minimal at best. They’re simply providing a platform for people to advertise rental units and for others to book those rentals. What the people on each end of the transaction wind up doing with those arrangements is their business and their responsibility.