Japanese officials are no longer investigating Airbnb

By Cale Guthrie Weissman

October 10, 2018

Airbnb just got a big win in Japan. The company has been under investigation by an antitrust watchdog, which was looking into whether the company was stifling competition. Now, the Japanese agency is no longer looking into Airbnb’s practices, according to Reuters.

The commission first began the investigation after receiving reports that Airbnb forced some users to not post listings on rival websites. Airbnb now says that’s no longer the case.

This comes a few months after Japan enacted a new law that officially made the platform legal in the country. This change, however, caused many listings to go dark as the new rule required hosts to have formal licenses in order to use Airbnb. This latest watchdog investigation was just another hurdle the company faced in Japan.

“We have cooperated fully with the JFTC and adjusted contracts in response to their inquiry,” Airbnb said in a statement to Reuters.

 
 

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