Civis Analytics

{{Short description|Data science software and consultancy company}}

{{Infobox company

|key_people={{

Unbulleted list

|Eric Schmidt

|Dan Wagner, founder, CEO

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Civis Analytics is a US data science software and consultancy company founded by Dan Wagner in 2013, with backing by Eric Schmidt.{{cite web|last1=Ha|first1=Anthony|title=Eric Schmidt-backed data science startup Civis Analytics raises $22M|url=https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/30/civis-analytics-series-a/|website=techcrunch.com|accessdate=February 28, 2017|date=November 30, 2016}} Wagner had served as the Chief Analytics Officer for Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign.{{Cite web|title=How Obama's Team Used Big Data to Rally Voters|url=https://www.technologyreview.com/2012/12/19/114510/how-obamas-team-used-big-data-to-rally-voters/|access-date=2021-04-07|website=MIT Technology Review|language=en}}

Civis Analytics helps businesses "understand their data, use that data to make predictions, and get recommendations on what steps to take next". Civis works with Fortune 500 companies and the country's largest organizations, including Verizon, Airbnb, Discovery, FEMA, Boeing and the American Red Cross.{{cite news|last1=Elahi|first1=Amani|title=Civis Analytics takes Obama data lessons to next level|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/bluesky/originals/ct-civis-analytics-dan-wagner-bsi-0716-story.html|work=Chicago Tribune|accessdate=February 28, 2017|date=July 16, 2015}}

In 2020, the company faced controversy for firing employee David Shor after he tweeted a short summary of an academic paper by Omar Wasow,{{Cite journal|last=Wasow|first=Omar|date=August 2020|title=Agenda Seeding: How 1960s Black Protests Moved Elites, Public Opinion and Voting|journal=American Political Science Review|language=en|volume=114|issue=3|pages=638–659|doi=10.1017/S000305542000009X|issn=0003-0554|doi-access=free}} a black political scientist at Princeton University. Wasow's study contended that nonviolent protests had historically been more effective at driving political change than violent protests, which led some critics to argue that Shor's tweet could be interpreted as criticism of the Black Lives Matter movement.{{cite web |last=Yglesias |first=Matthew |date=July 29, 2020 |title=The real stakes in the David Shor saga |url=https://www.vox.com/2020/7/29/21340308/david-shor-omar-wasow-speech |access-date=November 8, 2021 |website=Vox}}{{cite web |last=Chait |first=Jonathan |date=June 23, 2020 |title=An Elite Progressive LISTSERV Melts Down Over a Bogus Racism Charge |url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/06/white-fragility-racism-racism-progressive-progressphiles-david-shor.html |access-date=November 8, 2021 |website=Intelligencer}}{{Cite web |last=Chait |first=Jonathan |date=2020-06-11 |title=The Still-Vital Case for Liberalism in a Radical Age |url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/06/case-for-liberalism-tom-cotton-new-york-times-james-bennet.html |access-date=2022-03-13 |website=Intelligencer |language=en-us}} After the firing, Civis Analytics initially released a statement claiming that had not fired any employees for tweeting academic papers, but later retracted that statement and replaced it with a new statement that omitted that claim.Mounk, Yascha. Stop Firing the Innocent. The Atlantic, June 27, 2020. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/stop-firing-innocent/613615/ In 2021, Wasow was quoted as having concluded from his conversations with Civis Analytics and Shor that "at the heart of it was how [Shor] was treated on Twitter by people who essentially shot the messenger"; Wasow dismissed accusations of racism or otherwise acting improperly as "baseless".{{Cite web|last=Brennan|first=Trip|date=2021-01-14|title=Omar Wasow's Years-Long Research Met a Once-in-a-Generation Movement|url=https://bluetent.us/api/content/18e2b516-524f-11eb-90f1-1244d5f7c7c6/|access-date=2021-06-04|website=Blue Tent|language=en-us}}

Eleven employees were laid off on October 30, 2020.{{Cite web|last=Jones|first=Sarah|date=2021-04-01|title=Democratic Firm Is Accused of Firing Workers for Speaking Up|url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/04/civis-analytics-accused-of-firing-workers-for-speaking-up.html|access-date=2021-04-07|website=Intelligencer|language=en-us}} In December, seven of them filed unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB for wrongful termination.{{Cite web|title=Civis Analytics, Inc. {{!}} National Labor Relations Board|url=https://www.nlrb.gov/case/13-CA-269890|access-date=2021-04-07|website=www.nlrb.gov}} In July 2021, the NLRB dismissed the claim.{{Cite web|title=Civis Analytics, Inc. {{!}} National Labor Relations Board|url=https://www.nlrb.gov/case/13-CA-269890|access-date=2021-06-03|website=www.nlrb.gov}}