Lyft has a new policy: don’t be a “Dick.”
The ride-hail giant on Thursday began booting users from its platform whose names it said don’t align with its community guidelines.
But the dragnet, meant to boot out jokesters with prank names, is instead catching innocent users in the process.
“My last name really is ‘Cocks,’” one disgruntled user tweeted at the company. “How would you like me to proceed?”
San Antonio Express-News sports columnist Mike Finger was also given 48 hours to change his name.
“I realize it might be hard to believe,” Finger said, “but it’s really my name, and you need to get your mind out of the gutter.”
One man with the last name “Poon” tweeted a picture of his drivers’ license to the San Francisco-based Lyft.
“Apparently @lyft does not think my given family surname aligns with their community,” he tweeted. “Sorry for being insensitive to your community, think about my childhood and what I had to endure.”
Another user, “Austin Dick,” shared an automated text he received from Lyft, to which he responded that he planned to sue.
Other last names caught up in the supposed potty-mouth sting include “Cumming” and “Coons.”
A representative for Lyft said that the policy was spurred by members of the Lyft community who “were using names that were either inaccurate, offensive or both.”
“In trying to fix the problem, we cast too wide of a net,” the spokesperson said. “We were well-intentioned, but our response clearly led to errors that we are working to correct, and we apologize.”
Shares of Lyft were down 1.6% Thursday, closing at $46.28.


