I only applied to the role, but I reached out to learn about the company from a data scientist. My interaction was so toxic. I reached out with general questions about how data science was used there, tech stack, what excited the person about working there, and for what skills they were looking to hire. The response was, "are you looking for a referral, because the answer is no". I explained that I was genuinely interested because the company is doing interesting work. I was told that I was the problem because of the questions I asked, which to mean seemed like great, thoughtful questions from some genuinely interested in the company. Needless to say, I pulled my application. If this is generally how the company operates, I would encourage people to not waste their time. People should find other companies that are respectful of all people and flattered when people reach out to learn about their work.