Financial Times UK 30Jan2020

Thursday 30 January 2020 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES 15

COMPANIES

ALICE HANCOCK— LONDON
JAVIER ESPINOZA— BRUSSELS

Airbnb has joined calls for a new EU
body to oversee global technology com-
panies, as the bloc debates how to regu-
late illegal and harmful content on their
platforms.
In a letter to EU commissioners and 18
city councils yesterday, the home shar-
ing platform said that it supported calls
for “a single European oversight body
for digital services” to oversee consist-
ent regulation of multinational tech
platforms across Europe.
Tech companies privately concede
that they will be subject to more strin-
gent regulation around liability and tax
in Europe, but have been actively lobby-
ing to ensure that the legislation put in
place comes from one centralised EU
office rather than individual states.
The public call from Airbnb follows
earlier concerns over potential changes
in Brussels that would make Big Tech
legally liable for all the content on their
platforms ahead of an overhaul on the
rules governing the internet.
“We very much do believe that it is
important that we have regulations,”
saidChris Lehane,Airbnb’s senior vice-
president of global policy. “The larger
challenges in the world today are
related to the fact that there is often mis-
alignment between the global tech plat-
forms that operate at a speed and scope
we haven’t seen before.”
Brussels-based Edima, an organisa-
tion of which Airbnb is a member,
warned EU commissioners this month
that making companies liable would
lead to punishments for companies that

tried, proactively, to uncover illegal

material.

The lobbying group, which also repre-

sentsGoogle,FacebookandTwitter,

alsoaccepted the possibility of a new

body to oversee their compliance. Mr

Lehane added that regulations should

be tailored to each particular sector, dif-

ferentiating Airbnb from its social

media peers.

An oversight body should instate a

consistent registration process for peo-

ple looking to rent out homes on a short-

term basis as well as give EU cities a

framework for regulating home rentals,

he said. Airbnb also intends to make

data on home sharing available to city

authorities through an independent

third party in the coming weeks.

In December, Airbnb won a key ruling

at the European Court of Justice that

allowed it to avoid the onerous rules

placed upon property agents in the EU.

The case followed an attempt by a

French tourism association to place

tougher rules on Airbnb.

Brussels regulators have for years

been debating an update to the bloc’s

internet rules as the original rule book

dates back 20 years — long before any of

today’s dominant players had any rele-

vance.

Regulators are still debating whether

to change the liability rules against the

will of platforms as they face growing

pressure from the public to force tech

giants to face greater scrutiny over how

they police content.

Last October Airbnb, whose initial

public offering is expected this year,

came under particular pressure follow-

ing a shooting at a house rented using

the Airbnb platform in California. It has

since banned party houses and said it

will invest $150m in beefing up its safety

protocols. Mr Lehane said that the com-

pany has started monitoring social

media and “aggressively” communicat-

ing its trust and safety policies to hosts.

Airbnb has also pledged to verify all of

its more than 7m listings by the end of

2020.

Technology

Airbnb presses EU to fill regulatory void

Home sharing platform

backs calls for single

digital services watchdog

Sittight:holidayletsbusinessAirbnbandothertechgroupshavebeenlobbyingtoensurelegislationisfromoneEUofficeratherthanindividualstates

DAVE LEE— SAN FRANCISCO

Theimpositionofinternetsalestaxes

bystategovernmentsacrosstheUSis

compounding problems for online

marketplaceeBay,whichofferedinves-

torsadisappointingearningsoutlook.

Shares in the group fell more than 5 per

cent in after-hours trading after it said

late on Tuesday it expected net revenue

of $2.55bn-$2.6bn in the first quarter

versus Wall Street expectations of

$2.64bn, according to Refinitiv.

A total of 33 states — including Califor-

nia, Texas and New York — have intro-

duced internet sales taxes, closing a

loophole that allowed online retailers to

base themselves in low sales tax states

while selling nationwide.

“This rollout happened faster than

anticipated and affected small busi-

nesses and consumer sellers requiring

marketplaces to collect and remit on

their behalf,” saidScott Schenkel, eBay’s

interimchief executive.

The company claimed the taxes hurt

US volume growth by about 6 percent-

age points in 2019’s final quarter, and

said it expected to see volume affected

for at least the first half of 2020 —

although it said it would improve once

consumers were accustomed to the

price increase.

Mr Schenkel said eBay was advocating

for a national tax to alleviate compli-

ance burdens for small businesses.

Fourth-quarter revenue fell about 2

per cent to $2.82bn, marginally above

analyst expectations. Net income from

continuing operations fell to $558m

from $763m in the same period in 2018.

Technology

US state taxes

on internet

sales squeeze

eBay earnings

Executive Appointments