As desirable vacation destinations go, war-torn Ukraine must surely rate low.
As with other forms of direct donation, using Airbnb to channel aid to Ukraine has been problematic.
The company was relatively quick to waive the 20% commission it usually charges on transactions.
But stopping scammers from setting up fake accounts to collect money from well-meaning donors hasproven more difficult.
Its a story that illustrates both the potential and limitations of the so-called sharing economy.
But this promise of market democratisation and inclusivity has largelyfailed to materialise.
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Platform capitalism
The founders of these companies didnt necessarily begin with such ambitions.
Now Airbnbs market capitalisation rivals that of the worlds biggest hotel chain, Marriott.
The fortunes made by the dominant sharing platform have not all come from technological innovation.
Uber, for example, has squeezed taxi cooperatives,reduced wages for driversand normalised precarious gig work.
Theres little that is democratic about these platforms.
The owners have the last say in the equation, dictating which actions and exchanges are allowed or cancelled.
Examples of what is possible already exist.
Perhaps the best known is Wikipedia a hugely valuable service that runs on volunteer labour and donations.
Its not perfect but its hard to imagine it working as a for-profit enterprise.
There are many attempts to create collectively owned, more democratic sharing platforms.
Such endeavours are known asplatform cooperativism.
But these ventures routinely struggle to raise the money needed to develop their platforms.
To help these platforms thrive, we need public policies that assist them to raise funds.
We also need programs that deliver financial and business education to platform members.
Weve drifted a long way from the early hopes for the sharing economy.
But its not too late to change course and work to co-create more equitable, human-focused models of exchange.
