GLAAD, the world’s largest LGBTQ media advocacy organisation, has called on Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to take immediate action against anti-transgender hate content on its platforms, following a recent ruling by the Oversight Board.
In the case known as “Post in Polish Targeting Trans People,” Meta’s original decision to keep a Facebook post containing violent speech targeting transgender individuals was overturned by the board on January 16, 2024. The post, advocating for transgender people to commit suicide, featured an image of a striped curtain in the colours of the transgender flag with a text overlay in Polish reading: ‘New technology. Curtains that hang themselves.’
GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis demanded a response from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, stating, “I personally want to hear Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg tell the world, today, that his company cares about the safety, rights, and dignity of transgender people.”
Content Moderation Policy Has Failed
GLAAD urged Meta to address the enforcement gaps and create and share an action plan to combat the epidemic of anti-trans hate on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.
In July 2023, GLAAD published an open letter, that was signed by 250+ LGBTQ and ally celebrities, including Elliot Page, Laverne Cox, Shawn Mendes, Ariana Grande, and Alyssa Milano. The letter demanded that major social media companies, including Meta, develop and publicly share a plan of action to combat anti-trans hate on their platforms. To date, there has been no public response from the companies.
Jenni Olson, Senior Director of GLAAD’s Social Media Safety Program, called the ruling a powerful statement. “Meta must urgently improve development and enforcement of their policies to better serve the safety, privacy, and expression of all of their users across all of their platforms,” said Olson.
Despite Meta’s hate speech policy prohibiting content that targets people based on protected characteristics, the case revealed a significant failure in content moderation. Meta failed to act on users reporting the post and it was only after the Oversight Board’s intervention that Meta removed it.
GLAAD said its research highlighted the real-world harms of online anti-LGBTQ threats and violence, including a chilling effect on LGBTQ freedom of expression and the traumatic impact of exposure to slurs and hateful conduct.
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