In a setback for the sharing economy, the Office of the New York Attorney General has issued a subpoena demanding data about all Airbnb hosts in New York, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Airbnb announced in a blog post that they are fighting this “unreasonably broad” demand from the Attorney General. The company recently made a commitment to clarify short-term rental laws, work with city leaders to ensure that the Airbnb hosts pay applicable taxes, and weed out the few “bad actors” among their community.
This all comes not long after a New York Airbnb host won an appeal with the New York City Environmental Control Board after being fined for renting on a room in his apartment, which seemed like a big victory for the sharing economy. But while that battle was won, the war for clearer regulation is certainly not over. In fact, Airbnb’s recent willingness to compromise is part of a larger sharing economy trend, TIME reports: “Instead of fighting the system, the companies (with some major exceptions) are beginning to accept that it’s better to try to shape the system to their liking as far as possible.”
