Mike Blake/Reuters
- Swastika Chandra had her Uber account banned because of her name.
- Uber eventually apologized to the Australian woman and reinstated her account.
- Chandra said she's proud of her Hindu identity and her name and wouldn't change it for anyone.
An Australian woman was banned from using Uber after the company deemed her first name to be offensive.
Swastika Chandra tried to order food from Uber Eats last year, but when she typed in her name, a pop-up told her it violated the company's terms and she'd have change it, she told A Current Affair.
Uber's guidelines restrict names that contain potentially offensive words.
Swastika comes from a Sanskrit word meaning good fortune or well-being. It's a symbol that has been relevant to many religions across Asia, like Jainism and Buddhism, long before it was co-opted by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis and became associated with antisemitism.
"They don't know that the Hindus used it for thousands of years before Hitler used it in the wrong way," Chandra said. Her name was common in Fiji, where she grew up, and which has a large Indian population.
"I'm very proud of my name. I believe in the good that comes with it and I'm not changing it for anyone," she told ACA.
Five months later, Uber reinstated her account and apologized to Chandra. However, it took interventions by the Hindu Council of Australia and the New South Wales attorney-general, according to ACA.
"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," Uber told the program.
Uber is no stranger to these types of moderation issues. In 2021, it deactivated a number of accounts of transgender drivers over what it deemed to be fraudulent profile pictures taken after the drivers had transitioned.
The company also faced backlash last year after the owner of a Palestinian restaurant in Toronto said Uber Eats had suddenly labeled his restaurant as Israeli. Uber Eats previously told Business Insider that the "unintentional" issue had been fixed.