Digital bank Monzo has been reprimanded by the data watchdog after staff called a gender-critical man a “horrible Terf”.
Employees of the digital lender mocked and condemned the man’s opinions on an internal company forum after he publicly criticised their transgender policy, as The Telegraph revealed earlier this month.
After spotting the man’s critique on LinkedIn, one staff member wrote on a Monzo Slack channel: “Horrible Terf on the Monzo LinkedIn post.”
“Terf” stands for trans-exclusionary radical feminist and is regarded as a slur by many gender-critical people who defend the reality of biological sex.
Now, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a rebuke, confirming it has written to the bank to “ask them to review and strengthen their own internal procedures and staff training in relation to this matter”.
The row began when Monzo announced on the social media site LinkedIn last year that it was urging staff to declare their pronouns on internal forums, had introduced gender-neutral lavatories in its London office and described maternity leave as “primary caregiver leave”.
One LinkedIn user, who was not a Monzo employee, warned that this could ostracise those “who don’t subscribe to gender ideology or resist the pressure of controlled speech”.
LinkedIn user asked bank for data it held about him
The man, a marketing professional who is gay and wished to remain anonymous, then noticed that many Monzo staff were viewing his LinkedIn profile, so he asked the digital bank for any data it held about him.
Under data protection law, anyone has the right to make a subject access request to a public or private employer.
Monzo, which has five million customers and advertises its “open and inclusive culture”, disclosed an exchange between staff on its Slack forum.
One employee remarked: “The absolute nerve of suggesting that we’re not an inclusive culture if we’re not inclusive of people who are intolerant towards trans people.”
Another mocked how they should “give the man an Olympic gold medal for mental gymnastics” and named the man’s employer, adding: “Bet their culture is really fantastic if this is the person leading it.”
Another said: “I see he used the old ‘women’s rights are under threat’ chestnut.”
The man complained to the ICO, the data regulator, which said that while it was “more of a staff conduct matter” and therefore no further action was required on his data protection complaint, it has still issued a rebuke.
The ICO said in a letter to the man, seen by The Telegraph, that it has “written to Monzo Bank to provide them with guidance regarding staff sharing and processing personal data using work related platforms (which Monzo have responsibilities for) for their own social discussions”.
The man told The Telegraph: “Customers or potential customers don’t expect bank employees to behave like this, and I can’t imagine the financial regulators would be impressed either.
“I’d encourage Monzo’s leadership team to think hard about how its staff have behaved and be more tolerant to those who have different beliefs and views.”
A Monzo spokesman said: “We always strive to maintain the highest standards in the way we work. We received notice from the ICO suggesting a review of our policies but that they consider the data subject’s complaint closed, as do we. We will continue to evolve and iterate our policies in line with our growth.”
