"We're taking steps to guard against racism and discrimination'' - company CEO

In the wake of increasing cases of discrimination and racism on accommodation listing platform, Airbnb, company Chief Executive Officer, Brian Chesky has said the company is taking new steps to address these issues on the platform.

He added that the company has zero tolerance for any amount of racism or discrimination on the platform.

He further said that he had spoken with users who had experienced discrimination on the service.

Also read: New law passed makes it illegal to rent out entire apartments on Airbnb in Berlin

According to Chesky,  the company plans to spend the next few months looking at the design of the platform in order to better address issues or racism, discrimination and unconscious bias.

Airbnb’s VP of Engineering Mike Curtis acknowledged the challenge of combating racism and discrimination and said the company is "committed to battling this with every tool at our disposal and with zero tolerance.”

Furthermore, Airbnb’s Director of Diversity and Belonging, David King outlined some steps already in the works like unconscious bias training for hosts, improved customer service and better machine learning, all to ensure better user experience.

Airbnb has recently dealt with several cases of discrimination on the platform, the most recent being last week when a company removed a North Carolina host for sending racist messages to a black woman who had booked a room on the platform.