Canadian conservative activist and YouTuber Lauren Southern announced Tuesday that her parents had been banned from vacation rental property company Airbnb for being “closely associated” with their daughter.
“We’ve removed you from the Airbnb platform because your account is closely associated with a person who isn’t allowed to use Airbnb,” an email from the company to Southern’s parents said. “This means you’ll no longer be able to book reservations on Airbnb.”
Southern was banned from Airbnb years ago over her Right-wing political views and was denied reinstatement when she tried to appeal.
“My parents just got banned from AirBnB for being related to me,” Southern captioned the now-viral Twitter post. “They have never booked anything for me. They do not represent me in any way. They aren’t publicly political in any way. How is this sane in any way [Airbnb].”
As of Wednesday morning, Southern’s post about the ban has received more than 6.8 million views.
“My parents are some of the sweetest people I know. They were just planning a romantic getaway, they aren’t political activists,” she added. “All I’ve learned is that if governments and corporations can’t shut you up by harming you, they’ll now go for your families.”
My parents are some of the sweetest people I know. They were just planning a romantic getaway, they aren't political activists. 🙁
All I've learned is that if governments and corporations can't shut you up by harming you, they'll now go for your families.
— Lauren Southern (@Lauren_Southern) February 7, 2023
Airbnb told The Daily Wire the banning of Southern’s parents was a “mistake.”
“We have reinstated their accounts and apologized to them for this mistake,” a spokesperson said.
The Daily Wire reached out to Southern about the response, and she said she believes Airbnb is “lying” about the ban being a mistake and only backtracked because of the public blowback.
“I think it’s obvious to everyone that my parents never would’ve been reinstated if Airbnb didn’t start trending last night,” Southern told The Daily Wire.
“How do you accidentally find a political activist’s parents?” she posed. “How do you accidentally ban them after she was banned 3 years ago? How do you accidentally write an email that specifically highlights they’re being banned for their associations?”
“I could see someone accidentally being locked out of their account for a glitch that emails them a generic letter, this was no generic letter nor random family. Airbnb are lying,” Southern asserted. “This was no mistake, it only became one when the world was less woke than they thought.”
Related: ‘I Was In Such A Dark Place’: YouTuber Lauren Southern Shares Powerful Detrans Story From Canada