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For years, teams of celebrities, human-rights organizations, even common outdated customers have requested Meta to take LGBTQ+ worries about security extra severely. These requests return at the least a decade and stretch to as lately as January, when Fb’s oversight board called out its failure to uphold guidelines meant to curb anti-trans hate speech. The basic drawback, the board famous, “is just not with the insurance policies, however their enforcement.” Its conclusion: Meta “is just not residing as much as the beliefs it has articulated on LGBTQIA+ security.”
That black eye adopted another letter that round 250 well-known figures, together with Elliot Web page, Ariana Grande, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Judd Apatow, despatched final June arguing Meta’s platforms had been full of abusive content material calling trans and nonbinary individuals sexual predators, and arguing that this appeared to be occurring, coincidentally, similtaneously an inflow in harassment towards distinguished LGBTQ+ customers.
Their letter had the backing of a number of main LGBTQ+ advocacy teams, considered one of which was GLAAD. This week—9 months after Meta received the request—GLAAD has launched a new report that primarily brings receipts, documenting new examples of “anti-LGBTQ materials” posted from June 2023 to March 2024. These posts vary from slurs to precise requires violence towards transgender individuals, many dotted with characterizations of the LGBTQ+ neighborhood as being “satanic,” “groomers,” “terrorists,” or “perverts.”
Hate speech is a broad class: Some phrases are merely offensive, whereas others enter into extra harmful territory the place they appear to name, immediately or not directly, for individuals to commit acts of violence towards sure teams. However Meta claims consumer conduct should conform to a sturdy set of Community Standards, writing that, “We take away hate speech, harassment, threats of violence, and different content material that has the potential to silence others or trigger hurt.” Throughout Fb, Instagram, and Threads, it gives specific language defining what’s hate speech, what it considers violent or graphic content material, and what sort of conduct qualifies as incitement, bullying, or harassment.
GLAAD says it logged formal complaints for all the “anti-LGBTQ content material” present in its report, with references to which insurance policies it believed they violated. The group claims that in every occasion, Meta “both deemed the content material not in violation of its insurance policies, or just didn’t take motion on it.”
Among the content material was posted or promoted by or concerned media personalities with very massive follower counts. Among the many most annoying posts that GLAAD says Meta allowed to remain up had been these:
- Trailers for a documentary referred to as “LGBT Terrorists.”
- Posts maligning a number of teams, resembling a cartoon that argued “Jews push pornography & degeneracy on our kids,” then depicted a person at a college bus cease wearing a “Thank heaven for little women!” shirt. (Among the many feedback this one elicited: “We fought the unsuitable enemy in WW2.”)
- An Instagram submit in January that requested, “What do you assume must be performed to medical doctors that carry out ‘gender affirming care’ surgical procedures on minors?” then added: “Tell us within the feedback.” (Options included having the identical precise procedures pressured upon them, in addition to “Nuremberg 2.0.”)
- An Instagram submit that referred to as trans individuals “devils” and confirmed a twisted physique being stoned to demise, although all of the stones had been changed with the laughing emoji.
- Posts that GLAAD argues crossed the road from “implicit” to “blatant” requires violence, like a November Instagram submit, set to the track “Fleshkiller” by Christian metalcore band Phinehas, the place a masked vigilante holds an assault rifle whereas stomping on the pinnacle of a winged, horned creature in a bright-colored costume. “Could the Holy Saints information you into glory,” the caption reads, with the hashtags #rifle, #ar15, #homosexual, #transrights, and #trans.
- One other October submit the place an angel has put a chokehold on a pink-bearded particular person who wears eyeliner and fetish apparel, whereas a masked determine beats them with a bat. “Assist us do the work of the Lord,” the submit’s creator asks, above the hashtags #guardianangel, #trans, #homosexual, and #bat.
GLAAD factors to previous public statements the place Meta acknowledged that hate speech discovered by itself platforms “in some instances might promote offline violence,” noting that such statements make the delay in curbing any such misconduct “all of the extra surprising.”
Meta didn’t reply to questions asking it to verify that it had acquired GLAAD’s takedown requests—and if it did, to elucidate on what grounds it opted to not take away content material displaying marginalized teams’ names and armed individuals attacking different people.
In a press release accompanying the report, GLAAD reiterated its intentions listed below are to “proceed to name for Meta to share a plan to handle the epidemic of anti-trans hate and violence on its platforms.”
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