US ride-sharing firm Lyft is restricting the accounts of users with unfortunately rude-sounding names, according to many users with giggle-worthy monickers.
The Uber rival is sending notifications to users who are genuinely named Cocks, Dick, Finger and Cummings. The notification says the Lyft account doesn’t align with the firm’s community guidelines and threatens to kick them from the service if it isn’t changed to something PG.
Lyft asks users to update their display name by a certain date, because it requires “all members of the Lyft community be respectful to help create a comfortable ride for all.” (via The Verge)
Those would-be passengers who happen to have a little double-entendre in their surnames are naturally asking what they’re supposed to do in order to avoid the censor, which due to an over-active algorithm.
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“Dear @lyft – My last name really is ‘Cocks’. How would you like me to proceed?” wrote Kevin Cocks on Twitter, while Mike Finger told the firm: “Hey, @lyft, I realize it might be hard to believe, but it’s really my name, and you need to get your mind out of the gutter.”
It’s not only Lyft users like Jen Dick and a Mr. Cumming, who’re experiencing the issues. Lyft’s algorithm is even flagging non-English sounding names, as you can see from the tweets below.
Hello @lyft
You recently sent me an email to change the name on my account because it's not in line with your community guidelines. My name is Bubunyo and if you are expecting me to use an English name, it won't happen cos I'm not English. You might as well just ban me.
Yours.
— Local Man (@KiddBubu) December 19, 2019
Same thing happened to me, but I knew exactly why they flagged my name. (I contacted them via @AskLyft and they're looking into it.) I'm guessing it's Scunthorpe Problem (https://t.co/IRUpGzjGO3)
— Jen Dick (@Jennifer_Dick) December 19, 2019
The latter’s problem appears to be that he has the word within ‘pimp’ in his name in some sort of rude word word search, leading some to believe it’s a recurrence of the Scunthorpe problem, which had previously stopped people from the town using that username because of the presence of the worst four letter word within.
A Lyft spokesperson said the company had “cast too wide of a net” when trying to prevent offensive or inaccurate usernames. The company added: “We were well-intentioned, but our response clearly led to errors that we are working to correct, and we apologise.”
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
