Meta is failing its LGBTQ+ users, says new GLAAD report

Top social media platforms continue to fail LGBTQ+ users when it comes to protecting them from hateful content.

In a revealing report titled "Unsafe: Meta Fails to Moderate Extreme Anti-trans Hate Across Facebook, Instagram, and Threads," GLAAD highlighted Meta's persistent failure to adequately moderate content that targets transgender, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming users with hate speech. The findings published Wednesday, spanning June 2023 to March 2024, demonstrate a troubling oversight by Meta's properties — Threads, Facebook, and Instagram — in addressing reports of harmful content violating its community guidelines.

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

GLAAD’s report unveils a troubling array of extreme anti-trans content proliferating on Meta’s platforms, spotlighting a wide range of posts that demean and endanger transgender, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming people. Despite GLAAD’s efforts to report these violations, the report indicates that Meta often dismissed them as non-violative or failed to respond, allowing such content to persist.

Additionally, the reported content includes instances of violent speech, targeted harassment, and incitement to violence, as well as the promotion of harmful practices like so-called "conversion therapy" and disturbing calls for the "eradication" of transgender people.

Related: GLAAD demands Mark Zuckerberg public statement on Facebook’s anti-trans content moderation failure

Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD, criticized Meta for its inaction. "The company's ongoing failure to enforce its own policies against anti-LGBTQ, and especially anti-trans hate is simply unacceptable," Ellis said in a press release.

According to Ellis, this inaction reflects a deliberate choice by Meta, highlighting its failure to protect vulnerable users on its platforms.

"The ongoing inaction and silence is an active choice, showing that Meta is not living up to its company values and most importantly, is not protecting its trans and gender nonconforming users," she said.

The urgency of GLAAD's report follows a collective plea for change encapsulated in a June 2023 open letter, backed by over 250 influential figures within the LGBTQ+ community and allies, which called upon Meta and other social media giants to take definitive action against the tide of anti-trans hate and misinformation festering on their platforms. Despite this call to action, GLAAD's investigation reveals a continuous stream of violative content, pointing to a significant enforcement gap within Meta's content moderation processes.

Related: Meta Fails to Moderate Content from Anti-Trans Hate Group on Instagram, Watchdog Group Says

Among the report's key findings are numerous instances where reported content, replete with derogatory slurs and dehumanizing tropes, were either dismissed by Meta as non-violative or left without any action. This content ranges from unfounded and harmful stereotypes to outright incitements of violence against transgender people, illustrating a stark failure in Meta's commitment to its community standards and the safety of its users. According to the report, these posts, frequently shared by popular anti-LGBTQ+ hate accounts, characterized trans individuals as "satanic," "sexual predators," "terrorists," "mentally ill," and "perverts" and used slurs to describe them.

In response to these findings, GLAAD is doubling its demand for Meta to urgently refine and implement effective content moderation strategies that genuinely protect all users, with a particular focus on those from marginalized and vulnerable communities.

In September, The Advocatereported on a Media Matters study, which highlighted similar moderation failures by Meta, particularly Instagram’s leniency towards groups like Gays Against Groomers, known for spreading harmful anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric. This earlier investigation into Meta’s content moderation practices raised additional concerns about the consistency and effectiveness of the company’s policies aimed at safeguarding LGBTQ+ users from hate speech and harassment.