Content Moderation Case Study: Lyft Blocks Users From Using Their Real Names To Sign Up (2019)

Content Moderation Case Study: Lyft Blocks Users From Using Their Real Names To Sign Up (2019)

3 years ago
Anonymous $4BDEsVAtYS

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20210414/15272946614/content-moderation-case-study-lyft-blocks-users-using-their-real-names-to-sign-up-2019.shtml

Summary: Users attempting to sign up for a new ride-sharing program ran into a problem from the earliest days of content moderation. The "Scunthorpe problem" dates back to 1996, when AOL refused to let residents of Scunthorpe, England register accounts with the online service. The service's blocklist of "offensive" words picked out four of the first five letters of the town's name and served up a blanket ban to residents.

Flash forward twenty-three years and services still aren't much closer to solving this problem.