Object of the decision
In a ruling dated 03 January 2023, the Paris Court of Appeal confirmed that AIRBNB was a content publisher, on the grounds that it played an active role in drafting the advertisements posted on its platform, due to the numerous constraints imposed on its “hosts” regarding the use of its platform.
The Court referred in particular to the precise instructions to be followed before posting an ad, the obligation to respect certain standards and a certain behaviour towards travellers on pain of sanctions, and the discretionary right that AIRBNB reserves to remove any content that does not comply with its rules.
To qualify the platform as a publisher, the Court also took into account the rewards awarded to certain ‘hosts’ who best comply with the platform’s guidelines, who are given the title of ‘superhost’ and thus benefit from greater visibility.
All of these criteria enabled the Court to conclude that AIRBNB was acting as a content publisher and that it was therefore its responsibility to ensure that the advertisements published on its site were lawful.
In this case, the Court concluded that the AIRBNB platform could therefore be held liable for the economic loss suffered by the owner of the property that had been illegally sublet via the platform.
The AIRBNB platform was ordered to pay the owner the sum of €32,399.61, with interest at the legal rate from the date of the judgment, as well as €12,000 under article 700 of the French Code of Civil Procedure, jointly and severally with the tenant.
