by Turo
posted on January 13, 2021
Turo is a marketplace fueled by collaboration, trust, and belonging. We’ve had long standing community guidelines that distill that collaborative spirit into a few essential rules to live by — do right by each other, inspire trust, and obey the law, to name a few. The events unfolding in recent weeks have been deeply troubling for our country and our democracy, and the lack of regard for these basic tenets of treating each other with kindness and decency is shameful.
While we always screen guests to help ensure the safety of the Turo community, in light of the unsettling violence at the Capitol last week and the simmering temperatures as Inauguration Day approaches, we’re committed to the following actions to augment our usual trust and safety measures, bolster the safety of our community, and encourage extra mindfulness and vigilance during this potentially tempestuous week.
Scanning for & banning community members associated with the violence at the Capitol on January 6
We have and will continue to cross reference the list of perpetrators involved in the violence in DC on January 6 with the Turo community database, and ban anyone found to have participated in the violence. As of this publication, no one in the Turo community was found to have participated, but we’ll continue monitoring both the developing list of names, arrest records, and BOLOs to endeavor to bar these bad actors from using Turo.
Reviewing upcoming trips in and around Washington DC
We’re taking stock of all upcoming trips in the DC metro area, including Maryland and Virginia, and running additional checks to see if any guests are associated with hate groups or have promoted violence online. Anyone found to have engaged in hate or violent speech or action will be banned from the marketplace and their trips will be canceled.
Supporting our hosts
We encourage hosts supporting trips next week to follow the “if you see something, say something” principle. If any trip or guest interaction makes you uncomfortable or you suspect they may be engaging in dangerous or unlawful behavior, we encourage you to lean on the extenuating circumstances policy to cancel without penalty or impact to your host metrics. Be especially mindful if you live in either the DC metro area or any state capital, as the threats of violence on Inauguration Day have been reported at Capitol buildings in all 50 states.
Be sure to stay in close contact with your guests with active trips as roadblocks and traffic delays may be quite widespread as law enforcement works to safeguard the Capitols and surrounding regions.
Stay safe, and long live democracy
The democratic process and tradition is cherished and sacrosanct in the United States. The barbaric behavior demonstrated on January 6 is simply not welcome on Turo.
Stay alert, stay safe, and if you can, stay home next week.
