Meta mishandled lesbian content on Instagram

Meta’s independent Oversight Board has overturned the removal of an Instagram post celebrating lesbian relationships, issuing a pointed rebuke of the company’s handling of LGBTQ+ content and warning that Meta continues to make “repeated errors” when moderating queer self-expression online.

The Tuesday ruling centers on a Brazilian Portuguese Instagram carousel posted by a page focused on lesbian visibility and culture. The post featured photographs of older lesbian couples alongside text reflecting on how generations of queer women had their relationships minimized, hidden, or dismissed as “just friendships” rather than openly recognized as romantic partnerships.

One image in the carousel included the phrase “Toda sapatão é uma potência,” which roughly translates to “Every dyke is a force” or “Every lesbian is powerful.” The word “sapatão,” historically used as a slur against lesbians in Brazil, has also been reclaimed in LGBTQ+ spaces as a term of pride and solidarity.

Meta removed the post under its Hateful Conduct policy after flagging the word as hate speech. After the user appealed, the Oversight Board reviewed the case and concluded that Meta was wrong.

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“The case highlights Meta’s repeated errors in two areas: enforcing exceptions to its Hateful Conduct policy for the use of slurs self-referentially and/or in an empowering way; and the moderation of content involving carousels,” the Oversight Board wrote.

The Oversight Board overturned Meta’s original decision to remove the content, though it noted that the company restored the post after the Oversight Board selected the case for review.

The decision lands amid growing scrutiny of how major social media platforms moderate LGBTQ+ speech, especially as automated systems increasingly struggle to distinguish harassment from community self-expression. Advocates have long argued that queer users are disproportionately swept up by moderation systems intended to curb hate speech, particularly when discussing sexuality, gender identity, or language historically weaponized against LGBTQ+ people.

According to the Oversight Board, Meta reviewers improperly focused on a single image in the carousel rather than evaluating the broader context, even though the image the company ultimately removed did not itself contain the flagged slur. The Oversight Board said the overall post clearly used the language in a self-referential, positive way, which Meta’s own policies allow.

The ruling also highlighted ongoing problems with how Meta moderates carousel posts, where isolated images may be reviewed out of context.

LGBTQ+ media advocacy organization GLAAD said the case reflects a broader pattern affecting queer users across Meta’s platforms.

“This case illuminates a repeated pattern: the suppression of LGBTQ voices and content on Meta’s platforms,” a GLAAD spokesperson told The Advocate. “One of GLAAD’s chief recommendations in the annual Social Media Safety Index is that Meta and other platforms must train moderators to recognize and understand LGBTQ self-expression. These are basic best practices.”

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The spokesperson said Meta’s decision to restore the post and the Oversight Board's intervention was encouraging, but added that “the company should now address this problem on an enterprise level to avoid future missteps.”

The case also arrives as Meta faces mounting criticism over broader changes to its LGBTQ+ moderation policies. In January 2025, the company loosened portions of its hate speech rules to allow more “discourse around transgenderism and homosexuality,” language that drew immediate backlash from advocates and researchers.

Last year, the Oversight Board formally recommended that Meta remove the term “transgenderism” from its Hateful Conduct policy and related enforcement guidance, arguing the wording failed to meet principles of equality and nondiscrimination. The term is widely criticized because it frames transgender identity as an ideology rather than an inherent aspect of identity.

But Meta said in a March compliance report that it was still “assessing feasibility” regarding the recommendation, nearly a year after the Oversight Board issued the guidance.

Meta’s Oversight Board has simultaneously upheld the online presence of some anti-trans content. In a separate April 2025 ruling, the Oversight Board allowed videos misgendering a transgender woman and a transgender girl to stay on Facebook and Instagram, arguing they constituted protected public debate rather than harassment.

“Meta still has a long way to go to improve safety for LGBTQ users,” the GLAAD spokesperson said.

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A Meta spokesperson declined additional comment and directed The Advocate to the company’s public statement on the ruling.

“We welcome the Oversight Board’s decision today,” Meta said in the statement. “Upon initial review, Meta removed this content for violating our Hateful Conduct policy, as laid out in the Meta Community Standards. However, after the Board brought the case to our attention, we determined that we had removed the content in error and reinstated the post.”

The company added that the carousel honored “the lesbian love stories of older generations of women” and acknowledged that the disputed term appeared “in a reclaimed, positive, self-referential context.”

The Oversight Board, which operates independently but is funded through a Meta-created trust, can issue binding decisions on individual moderation disputes and nonbinding policy recommendations.