Uber banned a woman Wednesday from the ride hailing app after she tweeted about her inability to find a car not driven by a “non Muslim.”
Laura Loomer - a conservative political activist and former operative at right-wing Project Veritas - started commenting Wednesday morning that she was late to a New York Police Department press conference and was unable to find an Uber that was not driven by someone who did not look like they were Muslim. Her comments then escalated to asking for the creation of a, “non Islamic form of @uber or @lyft because I never want to support another Islamic immigrant driver.” Uber then banned her from the app, according to Business Insider. Uber has not put out an official statement regarding her ban.
On Wednesday evening, Lyft deactivated Loomer’s account, CNET reported.
Loomer’s tweets came the morning after 29-year-old Sayfullo Saipov drove a truck onto a pedestrian and bike path in Lower Manhattan, killing eight people and injuring another 11. Saipov entered the United States legally in 2010 from Uzbekistan, according to Vox.
In August, Uber banned white supremacist James Allsup following violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the company said it would take further steps to ban supremacists. “There is simply no place for this type of bigotry, discrimination, and hate,” Uber Regional General Manager Meghan Verena Joyce wrote at the time.
Uber isn’t the only company to recently reprimand users for race-related actions. In July, Airbnb fined a host in California $5,000 and required her to take an Asian-American studies class after she abruptly canceled a reservation and responded with a racial comment. That state’s regulators earlier this year allowed Airbnb to submit hosts to racial discrimination tests.
Laura Loomer - a conservative political activist and former operative at right-wing Project Veritas - started commenting Wednesday morning that she was late to a New York Police Department press conference and was unable to find an Uber that was not driven by someone who did not look like they were Muslim. Her comments then escalated to asking for the creation of a, “non Islamic form of @uber or @lyft because I never want to support another Islamic immigrant driver.” Uber then banned her from the app, according to Business Insider. Uber has not put out an official statement regarding her ban.
On Wednesday evening, Lyft deactivated Loomer’s account, CNET reported.
Loomer’s tweets came the morning after 29-year-old Sayfullo Saipov drove a truck onto a pedestrian and bike path in Lower Manhattan, killing eight people and injuring another 11. Saipov entered the United States legally in 2010 from Uzbekistan, according to Vox.
In August, Uber banned white supremacist James Allsup following violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the company said it would take further steps to ban supremacists. “There is simply no place for this type of bigotry, discrimination, and hate,” Uber Regional General Manager Meghan Verena Joyce wrote at the time.
Uber isn’t the only company to recently reprimand users for race-related actions. In July, Airbnb fined a host in California $5,000 and required her to take an Asian-American studies class after she abruptly canceled a reservation and responded with a racial comment. That state’s regulators earlier this year allowed Airbnb to submit hosts to racial discrimination tests.