Airbnb bans users for association with freedom activist

Airbnb has deplatformed the parents of Lauren Southern for being “associated with” their daughter, the journalist and freedom activist reported Wednesday.

Southern, a former reporter for Rebel Media and Sky News Australia, is an author and documentary filmmaker who the mainstream media claim is racist, white supremacist, anti-feminist and xenophobic. She has been banned from the United Kingdom and had her speaking events canceled by the Auckland government. Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern declared the country “hostile” to Southern’s views. At a protest in 2016 she had urine poured on her head for saying there are only two genders.

She has also been banned by PayPal, Patreon and GoFundMe. In 2019, she was banned by Airbnb for her “affiliation” with certain groups.

“After a routine view of your Airbnb account on August 2, 2019, we regret to inform you that we are no longer able to support your account and have removed it.

“The decision was based on the fact that your public affiliation with certain groups is in violation of our Policies and Community Standards,” the hospitality crowdsourcing giant said in a notice.

Now Airbnb has also banned Southern’s parents for their affiliation with her.

“My parents just got banned from Airbnb for being related to me. They have never booked anything for me. They do not represent me in any way. They aren't publicly political in any way. How is this sane in any way @Airbnb,” Southern tweeted Wednesday, posting a screenshot of the platform’s notice to her parents.

“We have an update to share,” read the memo. “We’ve removed you from the Airbnb platform because your account is closely associated with a person who isn’t allowed to use Airbnb. This means you’ll no longer be able to book reservations on Airbnb.”

Explaining why they made the decision, the platform said that “for the safety of our community, we may remove accounts that are closely associated with people who aren’t allowed to use Airbnb.”

“My parents are some of the sweetest people I know. They were just planning a romantic getaway, they aren't political activists. :( All I've learned is that if governments and corporations can't shut you up by harming you, they'll now go for your families,” wrote Southern in a follow-up tweet.

Airbnb is only one example of overreaching speech enforcement by tech platforms.

Patreon, a platform that allows content creators to be paid directly by their patrons, ban users for things they say outside of the platform. 

The company notified popular conservative commentator Sydney Watson last year that it would be removing her account. 

The reason, said Patreon, is that Watson's “content propagated what we consider to be negative stereotypes or segregationally content towards a protected community.” 

But Watson had not created any content on Patreon. 

“I never actually post[s] anything on Patreon itself, which means they're banning me purely based on what I've said on other platforms,” TheBlazeTV host tweeted. “And even then, reading through their guidelines, I haven't done a single thing listed.” 

The platform addressed that complication. 

“When reviewing, we take into consideration the content shared on Patreon as well as any activity taking place outside our platform.” 

But Patreon goes one step further. 

When Patreon suspended HighImpactFlix in February 2022 for “COVID-19 medical misinformation,” they demanded that he remove his content on other platforms before they would reinstate his account. 

“Following our policy update concerning medical misinformation, Patreon can no longer support accounts that repeatedly use unfounded or debunked theories to argue against broadly supported public health measures on COVID-19,” wrote Reye from Patreon. 

“I took a look and reviewed your creator page today. In order to bring your page back within our guidelines, kindly review and remove any and all content that advances COVID-19 medical misinformation.” 

That’s when HighImpactFlix was told he must watch what he says on the internet. 

“Additionally, since our guidelines extend to any projects that you fund via Patreon, this means that online content linked to your creator page is subject to our guidelines.” 

Reye then included some links to HighImpactFlix’s content elsewhere on the World Wide Web that he can “fix” if he wants his Patreon account reinstated.