‘Users face offline consequences’: Meta urged to do more to protect LGBTQ+ people
Meta should do more to safeguard LGBTQIA+ users being targeted on its platforms, a leading human rights organisation has said.
Human Rights Watch, a non-governmental organisation that defends the rights of people in more than 100 countries globally, has warned of the “offline consequences” members of the community face when subjected to abuse on social media.
Its new ‘Secure Our Socials’ campaign, which was launched as a result of the organisation’s ‘All This Terror Because of a Photo’ report from 2023, calls on platforms to be more transparent and accountable by publicly sharing data on investment and how it handles user safety.
The report looked into how security forces digitally targeted LGBTQIA+ people in Tunisia, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt and found that they had been using social media platforms (including Facebook and Instagram) to harass and entrap LGBTQIA+ people. “It is so vital for these mediums to be available for people safely” Rasha Younes, Interim Co-Deputy Director on LGBTQIA+ Rights at Human Rights Watch, interviewed 120 people from the five countries in what she said shows “a snapshot of what is happening on a daily basis”. “The LGBT people that we interviewed reported losing their jobs, being subjected to family violence (including conversion practices), having to change their place of residence and even flee the country, as well as experiencing severe mental health consequences for many years to come as a result of being targeted online, including on Facebook and Instagram,” said Younes during a Zoom call with GAY TIMES. “They lived in self isolation, they started to self-censor online.
