GLAAD urges action over Meta’s ongoing neglect of moderating anti-trans hate

Through an escalating confrontation over social media’s role in safeguarding LGBTQ+ users, GLAAD, the preeminent organization advocating for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community and its fair representation in media, has sharply criticized Meta for its continued failure to moderate anti-transgender hate content effectively. The criticism came Friday in the wake of Meta’s recent response to a ruling by the company's Oversight Board concerning a profoundly troubling case of anti-trans content on one of its platforms.

Nearly two months ago, the Oversight Board, a panel with the authority to make nonbinding but precedent-setting decisions regarding content moderation on Meta’s platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, overturned the business’s initial decision to allow a post targeting transgender individuals with hateful rhetoric to remain online.

Meta had responded to a Facebook post, initially perceived as nonviolating, that featured imagery and text suggestive of harm directed at a group identified by their gender identity. Upon reevaluation, Meta identified the content as contravening its Hate Speech policy, which disallows content advocating harm or suicide against individuals or groups based on protected characteristics, including gender identity.

The post in question, which encouraged harm to trans people, highlighted a broader issue of Meta’s systemic failure to enforce its community standards against anti-LGBTQ hate speech, GLAAD noted.

In response to the Oversight Board’s ruling, Meta said it is “assessing feasibility” for more effectively moderating content that represents gender identity through symbolic imagery without depicting human figures, according to Meta’s Transparency Center. This response falls short of the tangible action GLAAD and other LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations have demanded for months, GLAAD leaders said.

Jenni Olson, senior director of the GLAAD Social Media Safety Program, expressed frustration over the timing of Meta’s Friday afternoon statement, issued just shy of the 60-day deadline set by the Oversight Board for public responses to its rulings.

The urgency of GLAAD’s concerns was previously articulated in a June 2023 open letter, cosigned by more than 250 LGBTQ+ celebrities, influencers, and allies, directed at Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other social media leaders. The letter condemned the rampant spread of anti-trans hate and malicious disinformation about transgender health care on the company’s platforms. It highlighted real-world consequences, including threats against health care providers and patients spurred by online hate and misinformation. Despite this direct appeal for action, Meta has yet to outline a plan to address these systemic issues publicly.

GLAAD’s criticism is rooted in comprehensive research, including findings from its 2023 Social Media Safety Index, which evaluates major social media platforms’ policies and practices related to LGBTQ+ user safety. The report reveals a lack of adequate policy enforcement and moderator training regarding LGBTQ+ content, contributing to an environment where anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric not only persists but thrives, GLAAD noted.

“Meta’s ongoing failures to enforce their own policies against anti-LGBTQ, and especially anti-trans hate, is simply unacceptable,” Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD president and CEO, said in a statement.

“The company has lost the trust of its LGBTQ users, and it’s going to take real action to begin to get it back,” Ellis added.