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The social media platform Twitter is removing the terms “master”, “slave” and “blacklist” in favor of a more inclusive language.
The terms are frequently used in programming codes that originated decades ago.
US bank JPMorgan also announced a similar move as more companies tackle racism after the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis.
Replacing the terms could cost millions and take months, according to experts.
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- Microsoft’s GitHub abandons master-slave jargon
- Why are companies talking about George Floyd?
In programming, “master” refers to the main version of the code that controls the “slaves” or replicas. “Blacklist” is used to describe items that are automatically rejected, generally prohibited websites.
On Thursday, Twitter’s engineering division tweeted a set of words it wants “to stop using in favor of a more inclusive language.” The list includes the replacement of “white list” by “allowed list” and “master / slave” by “leader / follower”.
Last month, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey donated $ 3 million (£ 2.4 million) to former NFL player Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp to “advance the liberation and well-being” of minority communities.
JPMorgan said it is also removing outdated coding terms as the Black Lives Matter movement spreads through the corporate world. He said the terms had appeared in some of his technology policies and programming codes.
Last month, GitHub, the world’s largest site for software developers, said it was working to change the term ‘master’ for its coding language. The Microsoft-owned firm is used by 50 million developers to store and update their coding projects.
Google’s Chromium web browser project and the Android operating system have encouraged developers to avoid using the terms “blacklist” and “whitelist”.
Global brands are also carefully looking at their product logos and names to avoid racial stereotypes. In recent weeks, several well-known brands have said they will change or revise their brand, including Quaker Oats, which renames its Aunt Jemima line of syrups and food.
At the same time, social media platforms are also under pressure to tackle hate posts, and Facebook faces a widespread advertising boycott of the Stop Hate for Profit campaign. Ford, Adidas, Coca Cola, Unilever and Starbucks have added their weight to the campaign, with the aim of eliminating hateful content on social media.
