Tolia later founded Nextdoor in 2010 and made a statement saying that "an entrepreneur like Abhyanker should go in and just expect a venture capitalist to take intellectual property from others and that it has happened so many times in the past.
[14] On May 14, 2014, Nirav Tolia, then-CEO of Nextdoor, was charged with felony hit-and-run for allegedly fleeing a crash on Highway 101 in Brisbane, California that left a woman injured.
[16] In February 2017, Nextdoor acquired the UK local social network service Streetlife in a "multimillion pound deal".
In July 2018, then-CEO co-founder Tolia announced plans to retire as chief executive officer (CEO),[20] stating that he intended to become chair of the company's board following the transition.
[28] Typical platform uses include neighbors reporting on news and events in their "neighborhood" and members asking each other for local service-provider recommendations.
For these users, Nextdoor provided a means of communication with individuals in a geographic area, instead of the topic-specific focuses of mailing lists, Facebook groups, and Craigslist posts.
Study participants described Nextdoor discussions as civil, and stated that the website's address verification requirement increases trust among users while also raising privacy concerns associated with disclosing one's location to the neighborhood.
Since Nextdoor vets the identity of its users, facilitating pickup and payment of items has been considered more secure than platforms like Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist.
[37] Starting in 2015, media outlets have reported some Nextdoor users have been racially profiling people of color in neighborhoods across the United States.
[38][39] In 2016, Nextdoor announced that users would be asked to submit identifying characteristics other than race when posting warnings about individuals or events in the neighborhood.
[39] Law enforcement officials in Oakland, California, who had generally embraced Nextdoor as a means to connect with local residents, were wary of being seen as endorsing or associating with a website that critics argue enables racial profiling.
[41] Cofounder Tolia claimed in a February 2017 interview with Wired that Nextdoor reduced racial profiling in its crime and safety reports by 75 percent through user interface changes.
"[44] The Root described incidents in 2019 in which people of color and one transgender person claimed they were targeted by Nextdoor users with negative comments and "spook alerts" – racially charged accusations of criminal activity – when they were walking in their neighborhoods.
[50] In a blog post, CEO Friar denounced "systemic racism in our nation" and pledged to provide its moderators with "resources and support".
[51] Subsequently, Nextdoor discontinued its "forward to police" feature, which had, since 2016, let users send posts directly to local law enforcement.
Representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation expressed concerns about the lack of transparency associated with Nextdoor's use of non-disclosure agreements.
[44] Nextdoor partnered with the Centers for Disease Control and American Red Cross to help distribute information related to COVID-19 to local neighborhoods.
[59] The company exchanges services with government agencies such as the California Secretary of State's office and the District of Columbia Board of Elections.
[62] A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration partnership allows Nextdoor to send out local-community alerts during extreme weather incidents.