Airbnb 2024 Law Enforcement Response Transparency Report 

Overview

Airbnb is committed to helping protect the safety of its community of users as well as helping protect their data privacy rights.  The 2024 Transparency Report is the 9th such report that Airbnb has published as a means of offering transparency and insight into the requests for user information we receive from law enforcement globally, and how we respond to these requests. 

This report provides information regarding law enforcement requests that Airbnb has received during the period of January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2024. 

Types of Requests We Receive

While criminal incidents related to the use of our platform remain rare, Airbnb actively works with law enforcement to support the safety of its hosts, guests and our community at large, while balancing the need to protect their privacy. In 2024, Airbnb received the following types of requests from law enforcement agencies globally:

• General Inquiries: Questions in relation to how to request information on a user. 
• Legal Process Requests: Requests seeking information including personal information about users of the Airbnb platforms in the form of legal process, such as formal written requests, subpoenas, court orders, or search warrants, addressed to the relevant Airbnb entity.
• Emergency Disclosure Requests: These requests involve an imminent risk of death or serious physical injury to any person. Airbnb has a dedicated team to respond to these requests globally 24/7.  If Airbnb reasonably believes the situation constitutes an emergency, Airbnb may disclose data to law enforcement on an emergency basis.
• Preservation Orders: In certain (and rare) scenarios, Airbnb may be requested to preserve a copy of user data for a specified period of time while a valid legal process for the data is obtained. 
• MLATs: Airbnb receives a user data request from a foreign agency via the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) process. In these instances where the originating country is known to us, Airbnb reports the request under the originating country. Where the originating country is not known, Airbnb reports the request under its Irish entity, through which most MLAT requests are received. 

How We Respond to Requests

Airbnb has a dedicated 24/7 global team that evaluates each request for legal validity in accordance with our Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, Law Enforcement Guidelines, and applicable laws and regulations. All requests are reviewed and evaluated on a case-by-case basis. In most instances, Airbnb requires the submission of a valid legal process request in order to be in a position to consider disclosing user information. 

Depending on the case in question, law enforcement agencies may request different types of user data. For example, requested data may include user account information, information pertaining to transactions conducted on our platform, and in some instances, subject to specific legal process and privacy considerations in certain jurisdictions, contents of communications.

Airbnb’s Law Enforcement Guidelines describe our process for receiving and evaluating requests from law enforcement authorities. Where Airbnb identifies a deficiency in a legal process request for user information, the requesting authority is informed about the deficiency along with an indication of what the appropriate process would be in order to be effective. Law enforcement may not always elect to pursue the request by obtaining compliant legal process or correcting the deficiency, which means Airbnb consequently does not disclose the related user information.

In certain emergency situations, Airbnb will disclose user information without legal process, when we have reason to believe, in good faith, that the request relates to an emergency involving an imminent risk of death or serious physical injury to any person and Airbnb believes disclosure without delay is required to avert harm.

Notification to Users

When Airbnb receives a law enforcement request seeking user information, in accordance with Airbnb’s Privacy Policy, we notify affected users, unless providing notice is prohibited by the legal process itself, by court order, or by applicable law. Airbnb may decide to not notify affected users for other reasons stated in the Privacy Policy. See Airbnb’s Privacy Policy for further information.

Where Airbnb identifies a legal deficiency in a non-disclosure order, Airbnb’s practice is to inform the requesting law enforcement authority about the deficiency and indicate what the appropriate process would be in order to be effective. In the case of valid non-disclosure orders, Airbnb’s policy is to comply with the non-disclosure order unless the order is withdrawn by the requesting law enforcement authority (or formally challenged by Airbnb).

Key Law Enforcement Response Statistics - Jan. 1, 2024 - Dec. 31, 2024

Law Enforcement Requests Received

During the period covered by this report, Airbnb received legal process requests from 49 countries/regions. These requests come from various law enforcement authorities, globally.

Key Notes:

• User Accounts Affected: Legal process requests from law enforcement sometimes include requests for more than one user account. Accounts “affected” means the total number of accounts for which at least some information was disclosed in response to law enforcement requests. Where a country’s/region’s number indicates a higher number of ‘user accounts affected’ than ‘requests for which at least some account information was disclosed’, this is due to one or more requests calling for information in relation to a number of user accounts to be disclosed, for reasons justified by the legal process received. 
• Invalid Legal Process Requests:  8.9% of the requests received during 2024 were either invalid / incomplete requests or did not comply with our policies, Law Enforcement Guidelines, or applicable laws and therefore we did not disclose user information.
  • The majority of these invalid requests involved legally deficient process from law enforcement. 
  • The remainder of these requests involved legally valid process, but were determined to be either overbroad with regard to the scope of data requested, or law enforcement was unable to demonstrate how the requested Airbnb data was reasonably related to the crime under investigation, if that was a legal requirement for such a request.

• All other legal process submitted by law enforcement resulted in user information being disclosed because it complied with Airbnb's Law Enforcement Guidelines and applicable laws.

Disclosure Rates

Disclosure rates by region where law enforcement submitted some form of legal process are:

The disclosure rate is substantially affected by whether law enforcement follows up on our initial response when their request and/or non-disclosure order is not in compliance with Airbnb’s Law Enforcement Guidelines or applicable laws. In addition, there are cases where we do not have any responsive user account information, even though the law enforcement request may be valid, and as a result there is no information to disclose.

Legal Process Requests by Country/Region Jan. 1, 2024 – Dec. 31, 2024

Emergency Disclosure Requests by Country/Region Jan. 1, 2024 – Dec. 31, 2024