The woman, Swastika Chandra, said her first name meant 'good luck' in Sanskrit and that it was a common name while she grew up in Fiji, a news.com.au report said.
advertisementChandra said she came to know about being banned from Uber when she tried to order food from Uber Eats.
Chandra finally got her Uber account reinstated after five months following the intervention of The Hindu Council and the New South Wales attorney-general.
UBER APOLOGISES TO WOMANIn a statement to news.com.au, Uber said it apologised to Chandra and said its review of the issue took longer than it expected.
"For that reason, Uber has a global policy of restricting access to users whose names entered into the Uber app contain potentially offensive words," it said.
Uber has banned a 35-year-old woman from Sydney in Australia from using any of her services over her first name, which was flagged as "potentially offensive".
The woman, Swastika Chandra, said her first name meant 'good luck' in Sanskrit and that it was a common name while she grew up in Fiji, a news.com.au report said. The company later apologised to her for its move.
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Chandra said she came to know about being banned from Uber when she tried to order food from Uber Eats.
"I was putting in an order for food one afternoon and went to the payment stage and this pop-up came up saying, 'Your first name is in violation and you need to change your name on the app,'" she told A Current Affair, an Australian TV programme.
Chandra said she was proud of her name while acknowledging the fact that it was associated with Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party. She also said that she would not change her name for anyone.
"It is a very common name. I personally know four or five other girls with the same name," she said.
Chandra said she was able to use her name on her birth certificate, her Australian citizenship certificate, her healthcare card and her driving licence without any issues.
"They don’t know that the Hindus used it for thousands of years before Hitler used it in the wrong way," she said.
Chandra finally got her Uber account reinstated after five months following the intervention of The Hindu Council and the New South Wales attorney-general.
Recently, Uber issued new guidelines on words that could be offensive, including 'swastika'. The decision came against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7 last year.
UBER APOLOGISES TO WOMAN
In a statement to news.com.au, Uber said it apologised to Chandra and said its review of the issue took longer than it expected. "Uber is committed to facilitating a safe and welcoming environment for all users," the company said.
"For that reason, Uber has a global policy of restricting access to users whose names entered into the Uber app contain potentially offensive words," it said.
Uber acknowledged that there were different cultural nuances to names and its teams evaluated users' accounts "fairly" to address such incidents on a case-by-case basis.
"In this case, after reviewing Ms Chandra’s request, we reinstated her access to the app. We have apologised to Ms Chandra for the inconvenience this caused her, and we appreciate her patience as we reviewed the matter, which took longer than we hoped it would," it said.
Published By: Prateek Chakraborty Published On: Apr 21, 2024
