Lyft incorrectly flags users with real names, like Dick, as offensive

Lyft’s safeguards were working overtime Thursday as the ride-sharing company culled through its users’ listed names. The automated system is apparently on the hunt for any offensive content that violates the platform’s community guidelines.

The only problem is it’s flagging people’s honest, legal and inadvertently offensive names. Names like Dick, Cumming, Cocks, Poon, and even Finger apparently don’t “align” with Lyft values. A growing batch of Lyft users were notified Thursday that they had to change the name associated with their Lyft account or they couldn’t ride or drive on Lyft. Those users now have until Saturday to get a new name filled in on the app.

Lyft’s support account on Twitter is pretty busy right now attempting to clean up the mess of its oversensitive system. A Lyft spokesperson said in a statement that, “Some members of the Lyft community were using names that were either inaccurate, offensive or both. In trying to fix the problem, we cast too wide of a net. We were well-intentioned, but our response clearly led to errors that we are working to correct, and we apologize.”

One user didn’t know what to do, so he changed his last name from Dick to simply the initial “D.” Lyft is making a lot of people relive a lot of middle school trauma today.  

An ironic part of all this is that some of Lyft’s own employees have these misaligned names. According to LinkedIn, at least two Poons work at Lyft, one Cummings, and plenty of Richards — which we all know is just one nickname away from Dick.

H/T to Kate Conger for first spotting the tweets.