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From the Valley to D.C., Big Tech players like Facebook, Google and Amazon are under more scrutiny than ever as new technology develops and privacy and antitrust concerns grow in lockstep with companies’ ambitions.

Technology

In what CEO Brian Chesky calls "the biggest change to Airbnb in a decade," the home rental company introduced a sitewide makeover Wednesday that makes it easier to find offbeat and niche properties.

Why it matters: As travel companies gear up for the summer rush — which will be  intensified this year by pent-up post-COVID demand — Airbnb is trying to differentiate itself and give consumers fresh options.

Driving the news: The upgrades Airbnb released Wednesday are designed to get people to expand their travel horizons beyond choosing a destination city and travel dates:

A new set of 56 "categories" of lodging — from castles and tiny homes to domes, treehouses and lakefront properties — allows people to browse and fantasy shop for places they didn't know they could visit.

A new "split stay" feature will suggest you divide your time between two nearby Airbnb properties if you're planning to be away for a week or more.

New "AirCover" protections offer more generous guarantees, safeguarding you if a host cancels, a property isn't as advertised, or you feel unsafe.

Between the lines: Chesky says he wants to prevent "overtourism," or too many people all trying to visit the same places (like Paris, London and Disney World). 

The "categories" approach, which lets people check out properties by activity (golfing, skiing) or type of location (beachfront, vineyard, the Arctic) or physical features (A-frames, chef's kitchens, treehouses), is meant to guide people off the beaten path.

"We want to redistribute travel," Chesky said at a news conference Tuesday describing the changes.

Details: Each "category" tells you approximately how many properties are listed in it, no matter where they are geographically or when they're available.

The "amazing pools" category has more than a million listings, for instance, while "caves" has 600, "mansions" has 1,000 and "national parks" has 600,000.

"We don't just have castles — we have a lot of them," said Chesky, noting that the 3,000 properties in the "castles" category are available at all different price points.

His favorite categories are "design," which has 20,000 properties that have been deemed architecturally interesting, and "OMG!" which has 500 weird and eclectic dwellings.

What's next: "We're going to keep adding a lot of categories," Chesky said. "This is just the beginning."

Editor's note: This story was originally published on May 11.

Want to rent a castle? Airbnb has an upgrade for that

New "categories" let you find an offbeat property

Brian Chesky, the CEO of Airbnb, at a press conference.

Brian Chesky, the CEO of Airbnb, at a press conference announcing the company's latest site changes. His dog, Sophie, was on hand to mingle with reporters. Photo: Jennifer A. Kingson 

Airbnb

Economy & Business

A new report on the future of travel envisions that biometrics could eliminate airport security hassles, making the days of removing your shoes and belt before you board obsolete.

Why it matters: Flying was a far more pleasant experience before today's onerous passenger screenings became necessary. If facial recognition and other technology can handle security checks invisibly, airports can one day become enjoyable social and retail hubs.

Driving the news: The airport of 2038 will be a "place of encounter," where passengers arrive "ready to fly," thanks to ubiquitous scanners and cameras that evaluate security threats "multiple times a minute, all as you go about your day," according to a report on the future by Delaware North.

There won't be a need to differentiate "sterile" and "non-sterile" areas of the airport — everyone will be free to go straight to their flight.

"We’ll even be allowed to walk loved ones to their gates again," according to the vision laid out by Delaware North, which operates retail stores and restaurants in airports.

"We’ll be able to order food from our favorite eatery to be delivered gateside rather than relying on sterileside airport concessionaires, since every person in the terminal will be checked by cameras and sensors at all times and processed remotely, regardless of whether they have a plane ticket," the report said.

Reality check: Privacy concerns are likely to accompany the continued rollout of biometric monitoring, but, let's face it — the horse is already out of the barn. 

Systems like CLEAR and TSA pre-check already pre-screen passengers to some extent — and Delta debuted its first "biometric terminal" at Atlanta-Hartsfield in 2018. 

"Sixty-four percent of airports globally plan to roll out self-boarding gates using biometrics and ID documentation by 2023, three times as many as in 2020," per the Delaware North report.

"In five years, ubiquitous tech and security protocols will blend biometrics with wearable technology such as watches, rings and other jewelry to expedite access even more."

What they're saying: Under the scenario outlined in the report, "people would go to the airport and have a meal," Todd Merry, the chief marketing officer of Delaware North, tells Axios. "It becomes much more of a destination than just a transit point for people getting on a flight."

Merry acknowledged that the projection was a rosy one that would benefit his company. But he noted that everyone would gain if "we could transform travel from a necessary chore to something that people again look forward to."

Editor's note: This story was originally published on May 10. 

All airport security hassles could eventually become obsolete

Biometrics could eliminate airport security hassles

Illustration of an airport check-in sign with a happy face

Airports

Axios Media Trends

Percentage change in price of DWAC,<br> Twitter and Tesla

Data: Yahoo Finance; Chart: Axios Visuals

There’s no better proof of Twitter’s impact on public conversation and markets than one tweet moving billions of dollars in market cap across three different companies in a matter of minutes. 

Driving the news: Elon Musk’s tweet that his pending Twitter takeover deal was “temporarily on hold” sent Wall Street on a wild ride Friday. Investors were already beginning to grow skeptical of Musk’s bid, but the possibility that he could walk sent Twitter’s shares tumbling more than 20% before the market opened.

Musk's tweeted clarification two hours later that he was still “committed” to the acquisition gave the stock a pop, but shares still closed down nearly 10% at market close.

Be smart: Musk’s tweet set off a ripple effect across a slew of companies, including Tesla, which saw shares jump nearly 6% on the possibility that Musk wouldn’t become a part-time CEO.

Shares in DWAC, the blank check company that plans to take former President Trump’s social media company Truth Social, also gained on the possibility that Elon might bail on the deal.

How one Elon Musk tweet showed Twitter's impact on the stock market

Musk’s tweet set off a ripple effect across a slew of companies.

Elon Musk

Big Tech

Media

Two tech industry groups filed an emergency application Friday night asking the Supreme Court to block a lower court ruling that allowed Texas' controversial social media law to take effect.

Why it matters: The law allows users to sue a social media company if they are blocked from posting or have their posts removed. Civil liberties experts and tech advocates have said it would force companies to let problematic speech such as hate and misinformation stay up on their platforms.

Republicans, including proponent Gov. Greg Abbott, say the law lets users retain freedom of speech amid social media companies' campaign to silence conservative ideas and beliefs.

What they're saying: The Texas law "is a content-, viewpoint-, and speaker-based law that would eviscerate editorial discretion and impermissibly compel and chill speech by targeted, disfavored 'social media platforms,'" NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) say in the filing.

"[T]he entire impetus for HB20 was that Texas did not like how platforms were exercising such editorial discretion to remove or refrain from disseminating certain speech," they write.

"For all platforms, the expressive act of policy enforcement is critical to the distinctive experiences that platforms provide their users — and to ensuring that the services remain hospitable and useful services."

"Without these policies, platforms would offer fundamentally worse (and perhaps even useless) experiences to their users, potentially overrun with spam, vitriol, and graphic content," the filing states, citing slurs, pornography and material harmful to children such as content urging eating disorders.

Our thought bubble, via Axios' Ashley Gold: The groups fighting the 5th Circuit ruling wouldn't have sent it to the Supreme Court if they weren’t confident the justices would vote in their favor. 

What will be most important to watch is what unfolds in the upcoming Texas court case over the merits of the law.

Tech groups ask Supreme Court to block Texas' controversial social media law

The law allows users to sue a social media company if they are blocked from posting or have their posts removed.

Photo of the Supreme Court building from the side 

The U.S. Supreme Court building on May 11. Photo: Drew Angerer via Getty Images

Supreme Court

President Biden has made the COVID-19 crisis and a post-Trump return to national unity and traditional democratic ideals his top priorities. From vaccinations to stimulus to schools, Biden is seeking bipartisan compromise while showing a willingness to use executive authority and bare Democratic majorities in the U.S. House and Senate to implement his policies. Republican leaders are navigating deep party divisions over if and how to move beyond former President Trump.

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Sunday's technology stories

Want to rent a castle? Airbnb has an upgrade for that

All airport security hassles could eventually become obsolete

How one Elon Musk tweet showed Twitter's impact on the stock market

Tech groups ask Supreme Court to block Texas' controversial social media law