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Supporting and growing our work with It’s a Penalty ahead of the Big Game

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Key Takeaways

  • Launching its second campaign together ahead of the Big Game in LA, It's a Penalty and Airbnb are focused on harnessing the power of sport to prevent abuse, exploitation, and human trafficking.

Key Takeaways

  • Launching its second campaign together ahead of the Big Game in LA, It's a Penalty and Airbnb are focused on harnessing the power of sport to prevent abuse, exploitation, and human trafficking.

As the Los Angeles area prepares for the Big Game, Airbnb has once again joined It’s a Penalty’s global campaign to harness the power of sport to prevent abuse, exploitation, and human trafficking, and will be sharing educational materials with local Hosts in the region. The 2022 campaign is supported by renowned American football players Johnny Hekker, Chris Godwin, Aaron Rodgers, Andy Dalton and Nick Foles. Each of the high-profile athletes lent their voice to help raise awareness via a 30-second campaign video and educational materials.

Big sporting events can increase human trafficking due to an influx of visitors, and Airbnb will provide educational materials developed by IAP with its Los Angeles area community, which include:

  • Signs that may indicate human trafficking, such as being easily startled, submissive or afraid, unsure of where they are, or being accompanied by a suspicious companion
  • Information about how to report suspected human trafficking. To send a tip, text CTYTIP to (847411) along with your tip or call 1-888-373-7888 anywhere in the United States
  • You can help make a difference by posting anti-trafficking informational notices, which are available for free on the California Department of Justice’s website in English, Spanish, and roughly two dozen other languages.

The It’s a Penalty campaign with Airbnb will help to prevent human trafficking and exploitation in the run-up to and during Super Bowl LVI, contributing toward a positive legacy in the host city of Los Angeles and beyond. We know from previous campaigns just how impactful they can be. Last year, our largest campaign ran during the Super Bowl in Tampa, which reported that 84 percent of people felt improved awareness of the issues of human trafficking and exploitation and were more equipped to make a report after being exposed to the It’s a Penalty campaign.

Sarah de Carvalho, CEO, It’s A Penalty

Airbnb’s partnership with It’s A Penalty builds on the platform’s work to combat human trafficking, including ongoing partnerships with a number of anti-trafficking organizations. Polaris and Airbnb have established a robust training curriculum for Airbnb’s global team of agents and crisis managers to support any reports of trafficking and help spot signs of possible exploitation. Adding to this curriculum, Airbnb recently partnered with DeliverFund on an educational series led by survivors of human trafficking. Airbnb is also a founding member of The World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) global task force to help prevent and combat human trafficking. 

Airbnb takes the challenge of confronting human trafficking very seriously, and we are committed to working with law enforcement officials and anti-trafficking advocates to address these horrible crimes. Ahead of the Big Game in Los Angeles, we are proud to once again partner with It’s a Penalty to help combat human trafficking, by equipping the local Airbnb Host community with information about how to identify and report human exploitation and how to report it.

Donald Hicks, Airbnb’s Vice President of Trust Policy & Partnerships

As part of its work to promote a safe travel environment for Hosts and guests, Airbnb runs background checks in the United States. Individuals with criminal convictions for crimes such as human trafficking, sexual exploitation and other sex crimes are prohibited from being able to use the platform. In addition to the guidance provided to local Hosts, Airbnb employs a Safety team amongst its global Community Support operation. This Safety team team has been highly trained by recognized experts such as Polaris in how to handle reports of human trafficking and sexual exploitation, and they are prepared to support our Hosts in the Los Angeles area. Hosts that suspect potential trafficking are advised to utilize Airbnb’s Urgent Support Line, which is a one-touch feature within the Safety Center of the Airbnb app that provides direct access within 30 seconds to the Airbnb Safety team for Hosts and guests in the midst of crisis and emergency situations during active reservations. For LA-area Hosts for whom Spanish or Korean is the preferred language the Urgent Support Line has been recently expanded to include support in those languages, as well as 10 other additional languages.

Airbnb has historically maintained a positive working relationship with LAPD and is prepared to support them and any suburban law enforcement agencies throughout the next few weeks.
Read more about: Safety, Trust

About It's a Penalty

It’s a Penalty focuses on four key strategic areas to end human trafficking, exploitation and abuse. They run global awareness campaigns during major sporting events highlighting the telltale signs to look out for, and hotline numbers to make a report. Working in collaboration with the sports, travel & tourism industry, NGO’s and law enforcers; the campaigns are contextualized in the host cities and countries. It’s a Penalty has so far run 12 Campaigns during the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Super Bowl and the Commonwealth Games, reaching over 2.5 billion people. Along side the Campaigns It’s a Penalty has three other programmes including CommonProject, which advocates for legal reform to improve protection from sexual exploitation and abuse for children throughout the Commonwealth countries, Student Ambassador Network, which educates and raises up university students in UK to prevent human trafficking and exploitation and co-run Safe to Compete, a programme that trains sports coaches and parents of children in Little Leagues in the USA to prevent abuse and exploitation. Get social: Instagram: @its_apenalty – Twitter: @its_apenalty – Facebook: FB.com/itsapenaltycampaign

About Airbnb

Airbnb was born in 2007 when two Hosts welcomed three guests to their San Francisco home, and has since grown to over 4 million Hosts who have welcomed more than 1 billion guest arrivals across over 220 countries and regions. Travel on Airbnb keeps more of the financial benefits of tourism with the people and places that make it happen. Airbnb has generated billions of dollars in earnings for Hosts, most of whom are individuals listing the homes in which they live. Among Hosts who report their gender, more than half are women, and one in five employed Hosts are either teachers or healthcare workers. Travel on Airbnb also has generated more than $4 billion in tax revenue around the world. Airbnb has helped advance more than 1,000 regulatory frameworks for short-term rentals, including in 80% of our top 200 geographies. In late 2020, to support our continued expansion and diversification, we launched the City Portal to provide governments with a one-stop shop that supports data sharing and compliance with local registration rules. We continue to invest in innovations and tools to support our ongoing work with governments around the world to advance travel that best serves communities.

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