(LifeSiteNews) — Conservative commentator and documentary filmmaker Lauren Southern is not buying Airbnb’s claim that they mistakenly banned her parents from using its vacation rental service.
On Tuesday, Southern tweeted an apparent screenshot of an Airbnb email to one of her parents, saying their account was banned because it was “associated with a person who isn’t allowed to use Airbnb.”
“For the safety of our community, we may remove accounts that are closely associated with people who aren’t allowed to use Airbnb,” the email reads.
“How is this sane in any way[?]” Southern commented, adding that her parents had used Airbnb to book a “romantic getaway.”
“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 just got banned from AirBnB for being related to me.
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 pic.twitter.com/SOF01xkJFS
— Lauren Southern (@Lauren_Southern) February 7, 2023
Southern appears to have been banned from the vacation rental service in 2019 based on company policies that “prohibit people affiliated with hate groups,” per an email exchange between a producer for Tucker Carlson Tonight and an Airbnb spokesman. The spokesman did not specify which “hate groups” Southern has ever been affiliated with.
Airbnb later apologized for banning Southern’s parents, claiming it was a “mistake.” The company ostensibly sent an email to them, restoring their account after reviewing their “appeal,” though Southern says her parents never filed an appeal.
The Canadian native went on Tucker Carlson’s hit Fox News show Wednesday night to address the issue, saying the “only thing [Airbnb is] sorry for is bad PR and trending on Twitter.”
“How do you mistakenly track down an activist’s family? Mistakenly send them a specific email saying it is because of their relation to me? It makes no sense,” she said. “They’re trying to cover up something nefarious here.”