Metro

Airbnb fights AG’s demand for customer data

The apartment-sharing Web site Airbnb fought back Wednesday against the state attorney general’s efforts to collect massive amounts of data about its customers.

“We filed a motion in the New York State Supreme Court objecting to the broad sweep of the Attorney General’s demands. We are committed to standing up for our community. This may be a tough fight, but it is one worth fighting,” David Hantman, the company’s head of global public policy, wrote in a blog post.

The state launched a crackdown Monday targeting landlords who use Airbnb but don’t pay hotel taxes as the law requires.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman issued a subpoena to the firm for data about everyone who has used the service to make extra cash by renting living space to visitors who don’t want to pay for an expensive hotel.

But the state isn’t going after the average person who only rents to tourists for a short period of time.

A source familiar with the operation said the AG only wants to target property managers or brokers who are skirting the law by renting multiple units, or people who rent their places out for long periods of time throughout the year.

“We aren’t targeting the casual user who may rent their personal apartment out while are on vacation or anything like that,” the source said.

About 15,000 people use the site as hosts citywide, serving about 225,000 visitors.

The company said only a small percentage of hosts are violating the law and argued that it should not have to turn over records for everyone who uses the site.

Airbnb expects about $1 billion in New York City bookings this year.