Today, GLAAD released the effects of its 2024 Social Media Safety Index, a program in which the LGBTQ media watchdog organization tests widely used social media platforms to see how well they protect the safety, privacy, and rights of queer people.
Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Threads, and X failed the test. TikTok earned a D.
GLAAD evaluated the platforms to determine whether their policies made a commitment to protect the LGBTQ network and prohibit lethal, misleading, or discriminatory advertising. The study also looked at users’ ability to add pronouns to their profiles and learn about protection policies that could save you. platforms collect and employ knowledge from people similar to their sexuality and gender.
The Social Media Safety Index report began in 2021. At the time, GLAAD claimed that “the entire industry” of social media is not safe for LGBTQ users. The organization also denounced the prevalence and intensity of anti-LGBTQ hate speech online, which it considers a “matter of public safety and security. “
According to the report, TikTok, the top-ranked platform with a score of 67 out of a hundred, is doing a smart job by letting LGBTQ users know how much of their data is being shared with the platform. TikTok does not collect data from its users about their sexual orientation, which is a notable win given considerations about the amount of knowledge the app collects and previous reports that TikTok was tracking users who interacted with LGBTQ content.
TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is a Chinese company. The app will be banned in the U. S. U. S. ByteDance sells TikTok to a U. S. owner next year.
TikTok also does not allow advertisers to target users based on their sexual orientation and has a policy prohibiting gender errors and fake names.
But TikTok was given a 67 for one reason: GLAAD for the platform to be more transparent about instances of unwarranted demonetization of LGBTQ content and creators and for it to employ more LGBTQ people as a business.
And while TikTok’s D-score is a smart rating, it’s the highest score a platform has earned in any of GLAAD’s annual Social Media Safety Index reports, and 10 points above last year’s TikTok F-score.
All of Meta’s houses (Facebook, Instagram, and Threads) scored below 60, earning them an “F” rating.
Neither platform has a policy prohibiting dead names, and according to GLAAD, it’s unclear exactly how much data Meta collects about users’ sexual orientations and gender identities. While some users would possibly insert their pronouns into their Instagram profiles and threads, this option is not available to everyone.
Last month, GLAAD released another particular report on Meta, showing that the company is failing to enforce the few policies it has for transgender users. And in the past, Instagram and Facebook blocked classified ads from queer accounts.
YouTube scored on the meta-platforms. Its 58 was due to the fact that it allowed users to upload pronouns to their profiles, but lacked a policy that protected users from gender errors or dead names. GLAAD also reported that YouTube allows advertisers to avoid showing classified ads to users. based on his identity, which Google, YouTube’s parent company, denies.
“Our policies obviously prohibit advertisers of Google’s audience distribution tools, aggregating custom audiences, from targeting their classified ads based on a user’s sexual orientation or transgender identification,” a Google spokesperson told the Daily Dot.
And as it did with TikTok, GLAAD calls for YouTube to better address “the unjustified demonetization and removal of LGBTQ creators and their content. “
X, previously known as Twitter, won with the worst Glaad score: 41 out of 100. Although it protects against gender errors and dead names in Brazil to comply with local laws, X no longer protects against Anti-Trans harassment in the rest of the world.
GLAAD also found that X moderates the protection of marginalized communities, LGBTQ or others, offers the ability to upload pronouns to one’s profile, and is dedicated to worker diversity.
In the report, GLAAD says the myriad tactics that social platforms fail toward LGBTQ people lead to real harms, such as false claims of grooming and indoctrination of children, and misinformation about gender-affirming care. This real-world damage is reminiscent of bombs. similar threats to Chaya Raichik, who runs the anti-LGBTQ account X @LibsofTikTok.
“There is a direct relationship between online harm and the large number of anti-LGBTQ legislative attacks, the rising rates of real-world anti-LGBTQ violence, and the threats of violence that social media platforms are responsible for,” he said. Sarah Kate Ellis, executive director of GLAAD, said in a statement. declaration, “and act urgently to address it. “
While GLAAD has come up with express answers for each platform, many unifying recommendations have been given to many social media giants, such as publishing comprehensive knowledge on how policies are enforced for LGBTQ users, converting policies for transgender users by not requiring them to “self-authorize. “declare. “” abuse, and by universally adding the ability to come up with pronouns in profiles.
The report also makes it clear that social media platforms have a long way to go if they truly want to protect and support their LGBTQ users, especially during election periods.
“There is a great deal of work ahead as we advocate for platforms to live up to their commitments to LGBTQ safety, privacy, and expression,” Ellis, executive director of GLAAD, said in the report. “Militarized anti-LGBTQ hate and misinformation, and especially anti-trans hate, will continue to be an incredibly destructive and harmful problem, and will be accentuated on social media ahead of the U. S. election in November. “
This article has been updated with feedback from Google.
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