INDEX / DIRECTORY / TRIPADVISOR / POLITICAL

TripAdvisor POLITICAL

POLITICAL AUDIT UPDATED 2026-11-03
Political Score 6.90 /10 B TripAdvisor - Complicity Index 646
Political 6.90

Evidence-only forensic audit. Scoring happens downstream - see the main dossier for the composite assessment.

Forensic audits like this are reader-funded - no sponsors, no ads. Support OpenIntel →

Corporate Communications & Public Stance

Statements on Israel-Palestine. Tripadvisor’s recorded responses concern settlement listings only. On 12 February 2019 [pre-2020] the company told Amnesty it aims to give travelers an apolitical, accurate picture of places open for business, that a listing is not an endorsement, and that it does not remove active listings 1. Amnesty and Middle East Eye quoted the company in June 2020 as saying “We understand that this issue is a sensitive matter with cultural and political implications” and “The listing of a property or business on Tripadvisor does not represent our endorsement of that establishment” 2. The 2019 response also said its map placement follows travel-industry and internet-search standards and that it would monitor how other companies list properties in the region 1.

Pre-publication silence. Amnesty reported that Tripadvisor did not respond to its pre-publication letter before the January 2019 report [pre-2020] 3.

Gaza and the war after 2023. No public evidence identified of a Tripadvisor corporate statement on Gaza, the October 2023 attacks or Palestinian civilian harm in the pages searched, which included the FY2025 annual report, the 2024 and 2025 proxies and press coverage 4, 5, 6, 2.

Comparative posture: Ukraine and Russia. Tripadvisor’s CEO published a letter in early March 2022, reported on 4 March 2022 7. Tripadvisor and Viator were reported to be cancelling experiences booked in Russia and Belarus, stopping vacation-rental bookings there and ending dealings with Russia-backed tourism boards, while still accepting hotel advertising from those countries 8. It blocked reviews that commented on the war rather than the reviewer’s experience, and opened forum threads for people in Ukraine 7.

Comparative posture: refugees. Amnesty wrote that the then-CEO Stephen Kaufer published a World Refugee Day op-ed on 20 June 2019 [pre-2020] pledging millions to refugee aid, and it contrasted this with the settlement listings 9.

Market framing. The FY2025 annual report mentions the region only in a risk factor stating that “conflicts between Ukraine and Russia and Israel and Hamas have impacted travel to those regions and the surrounding regions” 4. In the portions read it lists no Israel or Middle East office locations; it describes about 25 leased locations across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific 4.

Act record: public communications. The 12 February 2019 response was issued by Tripadvisor, Inc. to Amnesty and is carried on the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre site, not Tripadvisor’s own domain 1. The June 2020 statement was issued to Amnesty and carried by Middle East Eye (middleeasteye.net) on 26 June 2020 2. The responses are earliest-observed 12 February 2019 and latest-observed 26 June 2020; whether the position is current in 2026 is unknown, as no later statement was found in the pages opened 1, 2. The Ukraine letter was issued by Tripadvisor’s CEO and reported on 4 March 2022, with the audience being users of its forums; its duration is unknown 7.

Operations in Occupied or Contested Territories

Territorial presence (listings). AFSC states that TripAdvisor.com lists dozens of accommodations in settlements in the occupied West Bank and Golan Heights, and records that FlipKey and Viator also advertise or act as booking agents for settlement listings (information valid as of 21 August 2022) 10. Who Profits (October 2017) [pre-2020] documented properties in at least five West Bank settlements (including East Jerusalem) and at least eight Golan settlements, and found that Booking.com, Airbnb and TripAdvisor present settlement properties as located in “Israel” 11. Amnesty’s “Destination: Occupation” (30 January 2019) [pre-2020] found more than 70 attractions, tours, restaurants, cafés, hotels and rental apartments in 27 settlements and said Tripadvisor acts as booking agent for the City of David in East Jerusalem 12. Amnesty reported that the listings included a national park, a museum, a desert tour and a Bible-themed attraction near Kfar Adumim, and the Susya archaeological site 3. The AFSC profile says Tripadvisor acts as booking agent for Caliber 3, a “counter-terrorism boot camp” in a West Bank settlement 10.

Discrepancy on labelling. Who Punches Profits (2017) said settlement properties were presented as in Israel, while a 2019 Jerusalem Post headline said the site placed Efrat and Ariel in “Palestinian Territories” 11, 13. Amnesty said in 2019 that Tripadvisor featured Shiloh listings without indicating a settlement location 3.

Legal and regulatory scrutiny. AFSC records that Tripadvisor was included in the 2020 UN database of companies with settlement links 10. Middle East Eye (26 June 2020) states that the UN list includes Expedia, Tripadvisor, Airbnb and Booking.com 2. The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre reports that the OHCHR update of 26 September 2025 lists 158 enterprises from 11 countries, with 68 additions and 7 removals relative to the 2023 list 14. Reuters text republished by Khaleej Times (26 September 2025) names Tripadvisor among the US firms that “remain on” the list and says the listed accommodation platforms did not immediately respond 15. The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre and The National summaries of the 2025 update, as retrieved, do not name Tripadvisor; The National names Expedia Group, Booking Holdings and Airbnb 14, 16. Whether Tripadvisor was in the 2023 update was not confirmed from an opened page 14.

UN Special Rapporteur report A/HRC/59/23. No public evidence identified in the pages opened that this report names Tripadvisor 14, 15.

Shareholder scrutiny. For the 2024 annual meeting (11 June 2024), Mercy Investment Services, The Episcopal Church and Portico Benefit Services proposed Proposal 5, a report on implementing the Global Human Rights Policy in conflict-affected and high-risk areas, citing Tripadvisor “financially contributing to accommodations and experiences in Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory” 6. The Board recommended a vote against, stating that existing policies and governance were sufficient and that the report “would not provide additional information” 6. Bowyer Research filed a notice urging a vote against, referring to the Israel-Hamas conflict 17. The proponents withdrew Proposal 5 on 30 May 2024, so it was not voted on; the supplement gives no reason 18. The 11 June 2024 8-K confirms no votes were tabulated on it 19.

Boycott and civil-society campaign history. Amnesty ran a campaign asking Tripadvisor to delist settlement listings, including an open letter to Tripadvisor staff on 10 July 2019 [pre-2020] 20, 21 and the slogan “War crimes are not a tourist attraction” 22. Amnesty and Middle East Eye renewed the call on 26 June 2020 ahead of planned annexation steps, with Amnesty saying Tripadvisor’s response “completely ignores the hard facts of international law” 2. AFSC records that student governments at Fresno State (October 2020) and San Francisco State (November 2020) passed divestment resolutions citing the 112 UN-listed companies 10. These campaigns are older than five years. Tripadvisor’s documented position in each response was that it does not remove active listings 1, 2. No public evidence identified of a BDS Movement named-list entry for Tripadvisor in the pages searched 10, 2.

Constructive notice. After the ICJ opinion of 19 July 2024 and the November 2024 ICC warrants, the evidence shows continued UN-list status in September 2025 15. The Board’s opposition to the human-rights report had been stated before the ICJ opinion, in April 2024 6. Whether settlement listings were removed, retained or expanded after July 2024 is unknown; no opened source reports a change 10, 15.

Act record: settlement listings. The acting entity is Tripadvisor, Inc., the SEC registrant 5. The beneficiaries are the listed businesses and attractions, including the City of David, which Amnesty says is run by the Elad Foundation 9. The channel is TripAdvisor.com 10. Earliest dated observations are Who Profits in October 2017 and Amnesty’s visits between February and October 2018 11, 3. The latest dated observations are the AFSC profile of 21 August 2022 and the September 2025 UN list retention, which does not itself show listings 10, 15. Status is unknown at the research date; neither a verified exit nor a verified continuation is evidenced 10, 15.

Internal Governance, Content & Retail Policies

Employee relations. No public evidence identified of HR actions, lawsuits or union disputes at Tripadvisor over Israel-Palestine speech in the pages searched 20, 21, 4. Amnesty’s July 2019 [pre-2020] open letter urged staff to press the company on settlement listings, but it reports no employee action or discipline 20, 21.

Platform and editorial policy. No public evidence identified of independent studies or regulatory inquiries on Tripadvisor moderation of Israel-Palestine content in the pages searched 4, 2. For context, the company’s moderation of Russia-related reviews in March 2022 is documented 7. The FY2025 annual report says the company uses content guidelines, algorithms and human moderators, and notes jurisdiction-specific moderation could affect hosting immunity 4.

Human-rights policy. The 2025 proxy states Tripadvisor adopted a Global Human Rights Policy in 2021, committing it to respect human rights and to assess and mitigate related risks 5.

Retail and supply chain. Tripadvisor is a listings and booking platform, not a retailer, and no product labelling or sourcing actions were identified. No public evidence identified of regulatory action on product labelling 4. The Tripadvisor-side labelling of settlement listings is covered above 11, 3.

Brand Heritage & State Partnerships

Marketing positioning. No public evidence identified of Tripadvisor using military heritage or defense ties in its branding in the pages searched 4, 5.

Institutional ties and sponsorships. No public evidence identified of state honors, hosted officials, formal state-institution partnerships or “Brand Israel” sponsorships in the pages searched 4, 2, 10.

Lobbying, Advocacy, Financing & Logistics

Political lobbying. No public evidence identified of Israel-Palestine or anti-boycott lobbying, PAC giving or leadership of advocacy groups by Tripadvisor in the opened pages; the FY2025 annual report portions read contain no political-contribution or lobbying discussion 4, 5. Lobbying-disclosure and FEC records were not retrieved, so this is a gap rather than a negative finding 4.

Financial contributions. No public evidence identified of corporate donations to parastatal bodies, settlement groups or military-welfare funds in the pages searched 5, 4. The 2025 proxy lists “Matching Charitable Donation” amounts of $4,970 each for CEO Matt Goldberg and one other executive for 2024, without naming recipients 5.

Crisis asset mobilization. No public evidence identified of Tripadvisor directing logistics, cloud credits or infrastructure to Israeli state or military efforts 4, 2. By contrast, in March 2022 it cancelled Russia and Belarus bookings and opened Ukraine forum threads 8, 7.

Corporate Structure & Primary Mission

Ownership. Tripadvisor, Inc. is Nasdaq-listed and headquartered in Needham, Massachusetts; AFSC (as of 21 August 2022) lists subsidiaries Bookatable, FlipKey, HouseTrip, TheFork and Viator and says it was controlled by Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings 10. The 2025 proxy states Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings held about 11.0% of common stock, 100% of Class B stock and roughly 55.2% of voting power before the merger 5. The merger closed on 29 April 2025 with an aggregate transaction value of about $430 million, the held shares were retired, Tripadvisor has a single share class and no controlling stockholder, and its redomestication from Delaware to Nevada took effect on 29 April 2025 23, 5.

Mandate. No public evidence identified of a state golden share, charter mandate or state-linked mission; the filings read describe a commercial travel platform 5, 4.

Act record: ownership change. The acting entity is Tripadvisor, Inc., with Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings, Inc. as counterparty, communicated through SEC filings and a company press release carried by hospitalitynet.org on 8 May 2025 23. The relationship ended on 29 April 2025 and the status is verified as ended by the merger disclosure 23, 5.

Executive & Leadership Footprint

Named-entity record (each line: name, relationship, what was searched, finding).

Personal philanthropy and financing. No public evidence identified of donations by Tripadvisor executives to IDF, FIDF, JNF/KKL, settlement or military-welfare bodies in the pages searched 5, 24, 25.

Public advocacy and statements. No public evidence identified of executive statements on Gaza or the Israel-Palestine conflict in the pages searched 5, 4. Kaufer’s June 2019 refugee op-ed is the only recorded executive advocacy, and it is not about the conflict [pre-2020] 9.

Board memberships and affiliations. The proxy biographies show Maffei’s other boards (Sirius XM, Live Nation, Charter, Zillow) and O’Hara’s roles at Certares, American Express Global Business Travel and the World Travel & Tourism Council, with no geopolitical advocacy or state-aligned academic roles listed 5.

Footnotes

  1. “TripAdvisor’s response”, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, 12 February 2019. https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/tripadvisors-response/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  2. “Amnesty slams Tripadvisor over listings in illegal Israeli settlements”, Middle East Eye, 26 June 2020. https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/amnesty-slams-tripadvisor-over-listings-israeli-settlements ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11

  3. “Israel/OPT: Tourism companies driving settlement expansion, profiting from war crimes”, Amnesty International New Zealand. https://amnesty.org.nz/israelopt-tourism-companies-driving-settlement-expansion-profiting-war-crimes/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  4. TripAdvisor, Inc. Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025, SEC. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1526520/000119312526051281/trip-20251231.htm ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15

  5. TripAdvisor, Inc. Form DEF 14A, proxy statement for the 2025 annual meeting, SEC. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1526520/000095017025061009/trip-20250430.htm ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17 ↩18 ↩19

  6. TripAdvisor, Inc. Form DEF 14A, proxy statement for the 2024 annual meeting, SEC. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1526520/000095017024049349/trip-20240426.htm ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  7. “Google Maps and Tripadvisor Nix War News in Reviews” (AFP), Asharq Al-Awsat, 4 March 2022. https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3510801/google-maps-and-tripadvisor-nix-war-news-reviews ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  8. “Russia Travel: Which Travel Brands are In or Out”, Skift, 4 March 2022. https://skift.com/2022/03/04/russia-travel-whos-in-whos-out ↩ ↩2

  9. “TripAdvisor’s corporate irresponsibility”, Amnesty International, 9 August 2019. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/08/tripadvisors-corporate-irresponsibility/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  10. “TripAdvisor Inc”, AFSC Investigate, information valid as of 21 August 2022. https://investigate.afsc.org/node/1410 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13

  11. “Business and Pleasure for the Economy of Occupation”, Who Profits flash report, October 2017. https://www.whoprofits.org/publications/report/39 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  12. “Destination: Occupation. Time to withdraw from illegal Israeli settlements?”, Amnesty International, 30 January 2019. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2019/01/destination-occupation-digital-tourism-israel-illegal-settlements/ ↩ ↩2

  13. “Amnesty: TripAdvisor profiting from war crimes with settlement listings”, The Jerusalem Post, 22 July 2019. https://jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Amnesty-Trip-Adviser-profiting-from-war-crimes-with-settlement-listings-595144 ↩

  14. “Israel/OPT: UN updates database of businesses involved in illegal Israeli settlements, listing 158 enterprises from 11 countries”, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, 26 September 2025. https://www.business-humanrights.org/de/neuste-meldungen/israelopt-un-updates-database-of-businesses-involved-in-illegal-israeli-settlements-listing-158-enterprises-from-11-countries ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  15. “Over 150 companies have ties to Israeli settlements, UN database finds” (Reuters text), Khaleej Times, 26 September 2025. https://www.khaleejtimes.com/world/mena/over-150-companies-have-ties-to-israel ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  16. “UN adds dozens of companies to blacklist over ties to Israeli settlements”, The National, 26 September 2025. https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/us/2025/09/26/un-adds-dozens-of-companies-to-blacklist-over-ties-to-israeli-settlements ↩

  17. Bowyer Research, Form PX14A6G exempt solicitation regarding TripAdvisor, Inc. 2024 Proposal 5, SEC, May 2024. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1526520/000109690624001203/bowy_px14a6g.htm ↩

  18. TripAdvisor, Inc. Form DEFA14A supplement, 30 May 2024, SEC. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1526520/000095017024066548/trip-defa_14a_-_may_2024.htm ↩

  19. TripAdvisor, Inc. Form 8-K reporting 11 June 2024 annual meeting results, SEC. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1526520/000095017024074253/trip-20240611.htm ↩

  20. “Amnesty urges TripAdvisor to shun illegal Israeli settlements on ‘stolen Palestinian land’”, The New Arab, 10 July 2019. https://www.newarab.com/news/amnesty-urges-tripadvisor-shun-illegal-israeli-settlements ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  21. “Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territories: Open letter from Amnesty International to TripAdvisor staff”, Amnesty International, 10 July 2019. https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde15/0659/2019/en/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  22. “Travel firms are profiting from war crimes in Palestine, Amnesty says”, The National, 30 January 2019. https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/mena/travel-firms-are-profiting-from-war-crimes-in-palestine-amnesty-says-1.819913 ↩

  23. “Tripadvisor Announces Closing of Merger with Liberty TripAdvisor and Finalizes Conversion to a Nevada Corporation”, Hospitality Net, 8 May 2025. https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4127083.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  24. Uriel Heilman (JTA), “TripAdvisor CEO: A tech exec with a soft spot for Israel”, listing page, Alberta Jewish News, 11 June 2015. https://albertajewishnews.com/2015/06/page/4/ ↩ ↩2

  25. “Ex-Tripadvisor CEO Steve Kaufer launches philanthropy-focused startup”, Skift, 26 October 2023. https://skift.com/2023/10/26/ex-tripadvisor-ceo-steve-kaufer-launches-philanthropy-focused-startup ↩ ↩2