WHAT IS HAPPENING? Breitbart London editor gets (not-so) "irreversible" ban by Airbnb

Greg P. | 1:45 PM on August 21, 2018

What is going on here? Breitbart London editor Jack Montgomery posted a screenshot of an email he received from a Trust and Safety specialist at Airbnb stating that the company had “exercised its discretion under the Terms of Service to disable your account(s). This decision is irreversible and will affect any duplicated or future accounts”:

Is @Airbnb banning conservative journalists now? https://t.co/fyb4k3VmQL

— Ezra Levant ? (@ezralevant) August 21, 2018

This caught Montgomery by surprise, understandably, as he reportedly “never had any issues with hosts or payments”:

Hi @AirbnbHelp, I appear to have been permanently, irreversibly, and quite randomly banned from @Airbnb, literally and explicitly without explanation.

I've used the service in France, Greece, Spain, and Portugal twice – never had any issues with hosts or payments. What is this? pic.twitter.com/baiikLiW6q

— Jack Montgomery ن (@JackBMontgomery) August 21, 2018

Airbnb investigated and eventually said they made the “irreversible” decision in error:

Hi Jack, we want to take a closer look. Can you please DM us your full name, email address and telephone number for verification purposes? We're standing by.

— Airbnb Help (@AirbnbHelp) August 21, 2018

I would like to stress I've never cancelled a booking or had a bad review from a host, and I don't have a criminal record or anything like that – so there's no reason this should have happened related to “trust and safety”.

— Jack Montgomery ن (@JackBMontgomery) August 21, 2018

“Looks like your account was suspended in error, I’ve gone ahead and re-activated it”:

From “Your account is disabled forever, we won't say why, this decision will not be reversed” to “Looks like your account was suspended in error, I've gone ahead and re-activated it”.

I do not believe this would have happened if you hadn't helped me kick up a fuss, thanks folks. pic.twitter.com/uZfBDG28bn

— Jack Montgomery ن (@JackBMontgomery) August 21, 2018