Airbnb has banned Michelle Malkin, blocking the right-wing political commentator from booking reservations on its platform, the company confirmed last week.
Malkin, who has aligned herself in recent months with Nick Fuentes’ America First movement, said on Twitter Wednesday that she and her husband had been banned from staying at Airbnb locations. The vacation rental company deleted Malkin’s account because of her participation in the 2021 American Renaissance Conference, according to an email Malkin posted online.
“It has come to our attention that you were a keynote speaker for the 2021 American Renaissance Conference earlier this month in Tennessee,” the email said. “Airbnb’s community policies prohibit people who are members of or actively associate with known hate groups. Due to your promotion and participation in a known white nationalist and white supremacist conference, we have determined that we will remove your account from Airbnb. This is consistent with action we’ve taken to ban people associated with this conference in past years.”
The platform confirmed Malkin’s ban in a statement to The Daily Beast on Wednesday. “Consistent with our policies, if we become aware of users who are members of or are actively affiliated with hate groups, we remove them from Airbnb,” spokesman Ben Breit said.
Malkin gave a speech at the American Renaissance Conference titled “Race, Immigration, and Con. Inc: How I Came to See the Light.” The conference is an annual event put on by the race-essentialist outlet American Renaissance which claims that “[r]ace is an important aspect of individual and group identity” and “whites, like all racial groups, have legitimate interests that must be defended.”
In an opinion piece published last week, Malkin suggested that the Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League’s classification of American Renaissance as a “hate group” played a role in her ban from Airbnb. It is unclear how much, if at all, Airbnb coordinates with the SPLC and ADL in its decisions to ban users. Airbnb did not immediately respond to The Daily Wire’s request for comment.
“In November, I spoke at a peaceful conference held by an organization that is deemed a ‘hate group’ by the Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League,” Malkin wrote. “A week after my talk, San Francisco-based Airbnb notified me that I was banned from using its services ever again and imperiously deleted my account. Poof!”
The SPLC and ADL, left-leaning groups that claim to monitor hate and extremism, both consider American Renaissance to be a white supremacist outlet. The SPLC and ADL have come under fire in the past over claims that the groups unfairly malign right-wing people and organizations.
Malkin said Airbnb’s actions against her are part of an “ideological witch hunt” against “anyone deemed an ‘extremist’” and said that she had been a target of such “hunts” by the SPLC and ADL since 2002 when she published her first book, “Invasion.”
“But this latest salvo crosses the line,” Malkin wrote. “It’s not enough that I — a ‘woman of color’ (the left’s own descriptive label, not mine) and mother of two multiracial children — was pronounced guilty of ‘hate’ crimes and ‘promotion’ of ‘white supremacist’ ideas for delivering a speech whose full content Airbnb didn’t even bother to obtain from me. The Airbnb bullies also banned my equally nonviolent, nonhateful husband — who did not attend the conference and who is not a public figure or activist.”
Airbnb took action against Malkin’s husband’s account in addition to her own because “[a]s we can see that your Airbnb travels are typically reserved via your husband’s account, we will also proceed in removing his account,” according to the email Malkin posted.
“Neither of us had ever had a negative review, complaint or policy violation of any kind. Are my kids next? Are yours?” Malkin wrote. “Take note: You’re damned right I spoke peacefully and lawfully to the peaceful and lawful 2021 American Renaissance Conference and was honored to receive a warm welcome.”
“I resoundingly reject the notion that condemning Black Lives Matter and antifa terrorists constitutes ‘hate.’ I defy the Airbnb thought police who consider my husband and me ‘untrustworthy’ and ‘dangerous’ threats to community safety on par with convicted felons and sex traffickers,” she continued. “God willing, and with my readers’ and viewers’ help, I will fight these speech-stifling bigots who think they can get away with retaliating against me and my family for my journalism and activism.”