Meta failing to moderate ‘extreme anti-trans hate’ on its platforms, claims report
Report finds Meta is failing to moderate ‘extreme anti-trans hate’ across its platforms (Getty Images)
A report claims that Meta – which owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads – is failing to moderate “extreme anti-trans hate”, despite transphobia being banned under hateful-content policies.
The GLAAD report, published on Wednesday (27 March), claims that posts that included transphobic slurs, “groomer” claims and the promoting conversion therapy were left on platforms.
Following an open letter from more than 250 celebrities, including Elliot Page and Laverne Cox, last June, which pleaded with Meta to address the “epidemic” of anti-trans hate, GLAAD reported that “extreme anti-trans hate” remains “widespread” across the company’s platforms.
The not-for-profit LGBTQ advocacy organisation reported several examples of posts which violated Meta’s rules, such as ones which misgendered or deadnamed trans people, included “groomer” content, promoted violence against trans people, or engaged in targeted harassment.
“Meta either replied that posts were not violative, or simply did not take action on them,” the report noted.
Those engaging in conspiracy theories and “violent rhetoric” were often “high-follower” accounts, GLAAD went on to say.
“Dehumanising tropes” and “fear-mongering” on social media can translate into “real-world harms” driven by “anti-LGBTQ+ extremists”, they warned.
Meta has previously said that “hate speech has no place on our platforms”, adding: “We believe people use their voice and connect more freely when they don’t feel attacked on the basis of who they are. That is why we don’t allow hate speech on Facebook, Instagram or Threads.”
PinkNews has contacted Meta for comment.
