All of the major social media outlets have failed to provide a safe and welcoming environment for LGBTQ+ users, according to GLAAD’s second Social Media Safety Index.
The index, which first launched in 2021, measures options available to LGBTQ+ users on social media platforms, including with regards to gender expression and protections from violence, harassment, and discrimination. Of the five platforms measured, including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok, all scored below 50 out of a possible 100 points.
Although the report notes that all of the companies have a clear policy protecting users, including LGBTQ+ individuals, from harassment, they all fall short in several categories. For example, Meta, the parent company behind Instagram (which scored 48 out of 100 points) and Facebook (which scored 46), “only publishes limited data about the actions it has taken to restrict content and accounts that violate policies protecting LGBTQ individuals.”
Most platforms also scored low due to lack of transparency with regards to user control over content and information, as well as data collection and targeted advertising based on gender identity or perceived identity.
Of the five platforms, only TikTok – which had the lowest score of 43 – had a policy against deadnaming and misgendering users and also provided “comprehensive information on how it detects violations to this policy.”
The report also provides individualized recommendations for each of the platforms, calling for most to protect users from targeted advertising, to give them more control over content related to their gender expression, and to commit to protecting them “from targeted deadnaming and misgendering.”
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