HONOLULU — Airbnb is criticizing Hawaii’s attempt to subpoena 10 years’ worth of invoices, receipts and other records from the home-sharing platform’s island hosts.
It calls the move unprecedented and a “massive intrusion” that violates state and federal law.
The company says in a court filing Wednesday that Hawaii has failed to show why it should be allowed to “invade the privacy rights of Airbnb and its users on this massive scale.”
Hawaii asked a court last year to allow the subpoena to help officials find which hosts haven’t paid the state’s equivalent of hotel and sales taxes.
The state needs the court’s permission to serve the subpoena because its investigation targets a group of taxpayers and not specific individuals.
A hearing on the issue is scheduled for next week.
Audrey McAvoy, The Associated Press
