When you upload photos, reviews, or other content to Airbnb, you give the company a permanent, worldwide license to use, modify, and distribute that content for any purpose related to the platform, including marketing.
This analysis describes what Airbnb's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
This license is broad in scope: it is perpetual, sublicensable, and covers derivative works, meaning Airbnb can modify your content and pass the license to third parties for platform promotion.
Photos, reviews, and other content you post on Airbnb can be used by the company and its partners worldwide, indefinitely, including in modified form and for promotional purposes. Users retain ownership of their content but grant Airbnb extensive usage rights that persist even after account closure.
How other platforms handle this
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Subject to any applicable account settings that you select, you grant Company a fully paid, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, non-exclusive and fully sublicensable right (including any moral rights) and license to host, use, license, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publicly perf...
By submitting, posting or displaying Content on or through the Services, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute such Content in any and all media or distri...
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"By creating, uploading, posting, sending, receiving, storing, or otherwise making available any Content on or through the Airbnb Platform, you grant to Airbnb a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual (or for the term of the protection), sub-licensable and transferable license to such Content to access, use, store, copy, modify, prepare derivative works of, distribute, publish, transmit, stream, broadcast, and otherwise exploit in any manner such Content to provide and/or promote the Airbnb Platform, in any media or platform.— Excerpt from Airbnb's Airbnb Terms of Service
(1) REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: This provision interacts with GDPR Article 6 and Article 7 for EU users, as the license grant over personal data embedded in user content (such as photos containing identifiable individuals) requires a valid legal basis beyond contractual necessity. The CCPA may require disclosure of how user-submitted content is used or shared with third parties. FTC guidelines on endorsements and testimonials may apply to how reviews and user content are used in marketing. (2) GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: Medium. The perpetual, sublicensable, and derivative works scope of this license is broad and consistent with major platform operators but may create tension with GDPR data minimization and purpose limitation principles for EU users. The irrevocable nature of the license means content cannot be recalled even upon account deletion, which may conflict with GDPR right to erasure expectations depending on how Airbnb implements deletion requests. (3) JURISDICTION FLAGS: EU/EEA users have rights under GDPR that may limit how Airbnb processes personal data embedded in licensed content. California residents may have CCPA rights regarding personal information contained in submitted content. UK users retain similar protections under the UK GDPR. (4) CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: Hosts and professional property managers submitting branded or proprietary content should assess whether this license conflicts with their own intellectual property rights or client agreements. The sublicensable nature of the grant means content may flow to Airbnb's partners and affiliates. (5) COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Legal teams should assess whether account deletion workflows at Airbnb effectively address GDPR erasure requests given the irrevocable license structure. Content governance policies should be reviewed to ensure user-facing disclosures about content use are adequate under applicable consumer protection and data protection law.
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This license is broad in scope: it is perpetual, sublicensable, and covers derivative works, meaning Airbnb can modify your content and pass the license to third parties for platform promotion.
Photos, reviews, and other content you post on Airbnb can be used by the company and its partners worldwide, indefinitely, including in modified form and for promotional purposes. Users retain ownership of their content but grant Airbnb extensive usage rights that persist even after account closure.
ConductAtlas has identified this type of provision across 26 platforms. See the full comparison.
No. ConductAtlas is an independent monitoring service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Airbnb.