Urban Dictionary, a crowdsourced online dictionary for slang words and phrases, is under fire on Twitter. Netizens are strongly registering their protest with #SuspendUrbanDictionary after objectionable definitions of Mayawati, PM Modi and others came to the fore.
Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati is "an unmarried p*rnstar. A woman who can do everything for power. Kanshi Ram's secret wife and ex-girlfriend of Mulayam Singh", the definition read.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is "the Donald Trump of India", it said.
The dictionary had a rather special definition for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. "Mamata is the rarest of memes. she's beauty and she's grace. she be breakin necks when she walks in the room. she is, overall, a superior human being," it read.
Before we jump to any conclusions, it is important to note that Urban Dictionary is a crowdsourced online dictionary. According to its blog, the definitions published on its website are no longer moderated by volunteers.
"Under the old system, a definition was published when a majority of volunteer moderators decided it was worth publishing. We appreciate our volunteer moderators’ work over the years. Over time, this system had become dominated by a loud minority who published abusive definitions and didn’t publish the good stuff," the blog read.
"We updated our public content guidelines, and detailed content guidelines, to clarify what’s okay on Urban Dictionary. Generally, a definition that describes an offensive or violent term is okay, but a definition that endorses or promotes an offensive or violent term is not okay," it added.
Urban Dictionary further said that it has now redeveloped its moderation system. Its own moderation team now reviews all newly-submitted and flagged definitions, and rejects definitions that violate their content guidelines. "If you see a definition that violates our content guidelines, please flag it, and our moderation team will review it quickly," it added.
Moreover, it is important to note that the Twitter account of Urban Dictionary is a bot. If one mentions @urbandictionary and asks for a definition, the bot will tweet the Urban Dictionary definition (if it's in there), read its bio.
Meanwhile, Twitter users are demanding strong action against it. Some have even tagged Twitter India and a few Union Ministers in their tweets. Check out the reactions below:
