Popular short-term rental website Airbnb has launched an online campaign to collect signatures, in the hopes that community pressure will get New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to back off an investigation.
Airbnb users received an email from the company urging them to “make your voice heard” by signing a petition created by Mishelle, an Airbnb host in Williamsburg, which protests Schneiderman’s subpoena of Airbnb’s data on its 15,000 hosts.
“[Airbnb is] helping me achieve my dreams by providing me with a source of income that makes it possible for me to focus my energy on preparing for a new career where I can help people through better public policy,”Mishelle writes in the petition, which has received over 21,000 signatures so far, according to Gothamist.
Airbnb also filed papers last week in state New York State Supreme Court to block the subpoena. [Gothamist] — Hiten Samtani