GLAAD: Social media platforms continue to fail to protect LGBTQ users
GLAAD released its fourth annual Social Media Safety Index on Tuesday, giving virtually every major social media company a failing grade as it surveyed LGBTQ safety, privacy, and expression online.
According to GLAAD, the world’s largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization, YouTube, X, and Meta’s Facebook, Instagram, and Threads received failing F grades on the SMSI Platform Scorecard for the third consecutive year.
The only exception was Chinese company ByteDance, owned TikTok, which earned a D+. Some platforms have shown improvements in their scores since last year.
Others have fallen, and overall, the scores remain abysmal, with all platforms other than TikTok receiving F grades. ● TikTok: D+ — 67 percent (+10 points from 2023) ● Facebook: F — 58 percent (-3 points from 2023) ● Instagram: F — 58 percent (-5 points from 2023) ● YouTube: F — 58 percent (+4 points from 2023) ● Threads: F — 51 percent (new 2024 rating) ● X: F — 41 percent (+8 points from 2023) This year’s report also illuminates the epidemic of anti-LGBTQ hate, harassment, and disinformation across major social media platforms, and especially makes note of high-follower hate accounts and right-wing figures who continue to manufacture and circulate most of this activity. “In addition to these egregious levels of inadequately moderated anti-LGBTQ hate and disinformation, we also see a corollary problem of over-moderation of legitimate LGBTQ expression — including wrongful takedowns of LGBTQ accounts and creators, shadowbanning, and similar suppression of LGBTQ content.
