Social media platforms have an alarmingly low record of protecting the LGBTQ community

LGBTQ media advocacy organization I’M GLAD recently published his 2022 Social Media Safety Indexwhich claims that some of the major social media platforms are failing to protect community users.

GLAAD rated companies using 12 LGBTQ-specific online safety indicators regarding privacy, freedom of expression and explicit protections.

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok all scored poorly on the group’s scorecard — less of 50% of 100%.

Here are the detailed results from highest to lowest:

1. Instagram: 48.38%
2. Facebook: 46.3%
3. YouTube: 45.11%
4. Twitter: 44.7%
5. TikTok: 42.51%

Among the most troubling concerns outlined in the report is the targeted dead naming and misgendering, with Twitter and TikTok being the only platforms offering adequate protection.

YouTube and Twitter users can’t add their preferred pronoun, while Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok either don’t offer the option to all users or don’t allow users to control who sees their pronoun.

All platforms fail to provide their users with adequate control over how their gender and identity data is collected and shared, both in terms of referrals and targeted advertising.

To make matters worse, they have also scored disturbingly low when it comes to demonetizing or removing legitimate LGBTQ content. The highest score for YouTube is only 21.43%, followed by 7.14% for Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, and 0% for Twitter.

Additionally, Twitter and YouTube provide zero LGBTQ training to their content moderators. Although other companies provide training, the survey found that they need to increase these efforts, with Instagram and Facebook scoring 25% in this area, and TikTok only reaching 50%.

On the bright side (as bright as it can be), almost all platforms score above 80% for workforce diversity (except for TikTok at 0%) and do a good job of banning harmful advertising.

GLAAD advocates stronger policy commitments, increased user options for data control and, above all, transparency.

If you are interested in reading the report in detail, you can find it here here.