https://wccftech.com/airbnb-has-dodged-fcpa-charges-for-now-what-about-sanctions/

Airbnb is available in over 80,000 cities in 190 countries around the world. And despite being such a prolific enterprise, it’s also universally despised by authorities at all levels of government. In holiday hotspots around the world with a shaky rule of law, like Thailand and Indonesia, Airbnb is banned. But it still operates — seemingly without impunity. And how does it do this? The company identifies potential avenues in its S-1 filing by hinting at possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), a strict American law that prohibits companies from engaging in bribery abroad. 

The FCPA is a US law passed in the late 1970s that prevents US-registered firms, or an officer, shareholder or intermediary of one from bribing officials in foreign countries. Given that bribery is a norm in many parts of the world, lawmakers in the US didn’t want companies from their country lowering themselves to this standard. At the same time, if corruption-prone nations wanted US investment they would need to clean up their act and stamp out bribery and corruption. Critics, however, say that the law is "extraterritorial, vicarious, punitive, and vague." In many countries the line between bribery and lobbying is ambiguous, and the inherent vagueness of the legislation would deter American companies from investing abroad.