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Nextdoor will display 'anti-racism notification' if it notices discriminatory language

It'll prompt the author to reconsider their use.

Nextdoor

Anyone who’s spent significant time on Nextdoor knows that it is rife with cases of racial profiling, with reports going as far back as 2015. The company even had to pull a “Forward to Police” feature due to racially-biased reports. CEO Sarah Friar has said recently that the company is attempting to curb racism on its platform, especially in light of the rise of Black Lives Matters protests last year. Today, the company is taking a step in that direction by introducing a new “anti-racism notification” aimed at preventing discriminatory language.

In a blog post, Nextdoor says that the notification will pop up if it detects phrases such as “All Lives Matter” or “Blue Lives Matter,” and will prompt the author to reconsider using such language. It doesn’t prevent them from publishing it, but the company hopes this will help spread awareness that these terms are "hurtful to people of color." Incidentally, both of those phrases are actually explicitly prohibited on Nextdoor “when used to undermine racial equality or the Black Lives Matter movement.”

This isn’t the first time the company has introduced such prompts. In 2019, Nextdoor also introduced a “Kindness Reminder” which detects offensive language and prompts users to edit the post. The company said that has resulted in a 30 percent reduction in “incivil content.”

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Nextdoor also relies on human moderators to police its forums. In an interview with Wired, Friar said that the company has been trying to diversify its local moderator volunteers as well.

The anti-racism notification will roll out this week on the web, iOS and Android.