To expand upon your point, AirBNB, much like Uber, can sit back a bit and pretend that this is just the fault of a couple of careless users as opposed to a syst

To expand upon your point, AirBNB, much like Uber, can sit back a bit and pretend that this is just the fault of a couple of careless users as opposed to a systemic problem. This is the "brilliance" of their business models -- at least for now, they can claim that these people aren't their employees, that they're independent contractors or some such, so it's not the company's fault. They get all of the upside with limited legal liabilities (for now). The long play is to have an exit before the legal side of things catches up with them--the legal systems are slow, but AirBNB/Uber's growth rates are pretty fast. The current stockholders can cash in their billions with the exit, and it'll be the CEO's/shareholders' problem in the future if/when the legal system catches up to them.