GLAAD Says Social Media Platforms Fail at LGBTQ Safety

When it comes to keeping LGBTQ people safe, social media companies are dropping the ball.

GLAAD, the world's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer media advocacy organization released its fourth annual Social Media Safety Index, giving five of the six major social media platforms a failing F grade.

YouTube, X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads all received an F for their efforts on LGBTQ safety, privacy, and expression. It was the third consecutive year the platforms received a failing grade, while TikTok earned a D+.

The report calls on companies to urgently prioritize LGBTQ safety, especially to address the extraordinary quantities of anti-trans hate, harassment, and disinformation running rampant on their platforms. All companies fail to meet basic standards for issues including data privacy, moderation transparency, training of content moderators, and workforce diversity.

"Leaders of social media companies are failing at their responsibility to make safe products," GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said. "When it comes to anti-LGBTQ hate and disinformation, the industry is dangerously lacking on enforcement of current policies. There is a direct relationship between online harms and the hundreds of anti-LGBTQ legislative attacks, rising rates of real-world anti-LGBTQ violence and threats of violence, that social media platforms are responsible for and should act with urgency to address."

The SMSI Platform Scorecard looks at 12 LGBTQ-specific indicators and evaluates each of the six major platforms.

Social media companies have inadequate content moderation, harmful algorithms, and a lack of transparency, the report said.

The report said anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and disinformation on social media can translate to real-world offline harms and that platforms are largely failing to successfully mitigate dangerous anti-LGBTQ hate and disinformation.

Platforms also disproportionately suppress LGBTQ content, according to the report.

GLAAD recommends social media platforms strengthen and enforce existing policies to protect LGBTQ people from hate, improve moderation, be more transparent, stop violating data privacy, and promote civil discourse.

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