“Over the past year, the neighborhood has taken on a whole new meaning,” says Sarah Friar, CEO of Nextdoor. Traffic to the platform, which functions as a digital bulletin board for local communities, spiked nearly 50% as people sought everything from lost pets to COVID-19 vaccines. But the content, like the ads that help fund the site, isn’t limited to locally owned entities, and Nextdoor’s supposedly safety-oriented posting function has proved ripe for racial profiling. (Facing criticism, Nextdoor added reminders to focus on specific behavioral descriptions.) The company has reportedly been targeting a valuation upwards of $4 billion, with buzz of a future IPO.
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