Twitter is working on replacing terms in its coding language that may be perceived as discriminatory with more inclusive and neutral terms, according to a report.
The social media’s efforts to replace terms such as ‘master’, ‘slave’, ‘whitelist’ and ‘blacklist’, which may be a reference to slavery, with more neutral terms is being spearheaded by its engineering division, CNet reported.
Twitter’s engineering division on Thursday also tweeted out a list of words that it will be replacing to become more inclusive, BBC reported. This included ‘whitelist’ with ‘allowlist’ and ‘master/slave’ with ‘leader/follower’.
“Inclusive language plays a critical role in fostering an environment where everyone belongs. At Twitter, the language we have been using in our code does not reflect our values as a company or represent the people we serve. We want to change that. #WordsMatter,” Twitter wrote on its Twitter Support account.
The micro-blogging platform joins big tech companies such as Microsoft and Google that had previously begun efforts to replace such terms within their coding language.
The initiative has gained momentum amid the Black Lives Matter movement that began in the United States with the death of George Floyd and had made its way to countries across the globe, including India.
GitHub, earlier this month, had said that it is working on replacing terms that might be perceived as references to slavery with more neutral terms. The Microsoft-owned coding platform will replace terms such as ‘master’ on its service with neutral terms like ‘main’, ZDNet reported.
Google Chrome had also removed terms such as ‘blacklist’ and ‘whitelist’ replacing them with ‘blocklist’ and ‘allow list,” according to a Hindustan Times report.
Twitter to replace coding terms like ‘master/slave’ with more neutral terms
Twitter’s engineering division on Thursday also tweeted out a list of words that it will be replacing to become more inclusive
Twitter’s engineering division on Thursday also tweeted out a list of words that it will be replacing to become more inclusive
Twitter is working on replacing terms in its coding language that may be perceived as discriminatory with more inclusive and neutral terms, according to a report.
The social media’s efforts to replace terms such as ‘master’, ‘slave’, ‘whitelist’ and ‘blacklist’, which may be a reference to slavery, with more neutral terms is being spearheaded by its engineering division, CNet reported.
Twitter’s engineering division on Thursday also tweeted out a list of words that it will be replacing to become more inclusive, BBC reported. This included ‘whitelist’ with ‘allowlist’ and ‘master/slave’ with ‘leader/follower’.
“Inclusive language plays a critical role in fostering an environment where everyone belongs. At Twitter, the language we have been using in our code does not reflect our values as a company or represent the people we serve. We want to change that. #WordsMatter,” Twitter wrote on its Twitter Support account.
The micro-blogging platform joins big tech companies such as Microsoft and Google that had previously begun efforts to replace such terms within their coding language.
The initiative has gained momentum amid the Black Lives Matter movement that began in the United States with the death of George Floyd and had made its way to countries across the globe, including India.
GitHub, earlier this month, had said that it is working on replacing terms that might be perceived as references to slavery with more neutral terms. The Microsoft-owned coding platform will replace terms such as ‘master’ on its service with neutral terms like ‘main’, ZDNet reported.
Google Chrome had also removed terms such as ‘blacklist’ and ‘whitelist’ replacing them with ‘blocklist’ and ‘allow list,” according to a Hindustan Times report.
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