In a judgment of the Paris Tribunal judiciaire dated 5 June 2020, it was held that :
“AIRBNB IRELAND is a company whose purpose, via a digital platform taking the form of the website ww.airbnb.fr which it administers, is to put people wishing to offer their accommodation for rent, “the hosts”, into contact with other people looking for accommodation for a short period, “the travellers”.
Article 6-I.2 paragraphs 1 and 7 of Law no. 2004-575 of 21 June 2004 on confidence in the digital economy (known as the LCEN) stipulates that “natural or legal persons who provide, even free of charge, for public access via online public communication services, the storage of signals, writings, images, messages of any kind provided by recipients of these services may not be held civilly liable for the activities or information stored at the request of a recipient of these services if they did not have actual knowledge of their unlawful nature or of the facts and circumstances revealing this nature or if, as soon as they had such knowledge, they acted promptly to remove this data or to make access to it impossible”. (…)7. The persons mentioned in 1 and 2 shall not be subject to a general obligation to monitor the information they transmit or store, nor to a general obligation to investigate facts or circumstances indicating unlawful activities”.
On the other hand, when they play an active role that gives them knowledge or control of the data, these individuals or legal entities have the status of publishers.
In the case in point, the AIR BNB platform refers to general terms and conditions, which set out the rules for use of the site and also the contractual relationship between members, in particular by requiring them to respect what AIRBNB refers to as its values and expectations, most of which are reminders of principles, such as non-discrimination, or legislation, such as the rules relating to dangerous animals or the presence of weapons. However, in addition to this reminder of the rules of good behaviour, it gives guidelines to these hosts: be responsive, accept booking requests, avoid cancellations, maintain a good overall rating and provide basic amenities, and failure to comply with these guidelines can result in content removal and/or penalties. ”
The Goldwin team working on the case included Jonathan Bellaiche.
Here’s what the press had to say about it:
