Uber apologises to Swastika Chandra who was banned from app over her name

Uber has apologised to a woman who was banned over her name

Uber has apologised to an Australian woman who was banned from the ride-hailing app over her name. Swastika Chandra told A Current Affair that she tried to order food from Uber Eats last year. However, the app told her she would have to change her name as it violated the company’s terms.

Swastika is derived from the Sanskrit root swasti, which symbolises health, prosperity and luck. In Fiji, where Swastika Chandra grew up, the name is very common among the island country’s large Indian population.

Although it has been used for centuries in Hinduism, Jainism and many other religions across Asia, the swastika symbol was appropriated by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party in the early 1920s. Because of that, it today has many negative connotations.

"They don't know that the Hindus used it for thousands of years before Hitler used it in the wrong way," Chandra, 35, said.

“It is a very common name. I personally know four or five other girls with the same name,” she told ACA. “In school, we had two or three other girls with the same name. It means good luck. It means good things for me.”

In October 2023, Uber blocked Swastika Chandra’s account, finding her name offensive. “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 explained.

It took several months and the intervention of the Hindu Council of Australia and the New South Wales attorney-general to get Chandra’s account reinstated.

“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.

“We understand that there are different cultural nuances to names, and therefore our teams address incidents like this on a case-by-case basis to ensure we evaluate each account fairly.

“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.”