Profiting From Hate: Social Media Giants Failing LGBTQ+ Users

GLAAD’s latest Social Media Safety Index reveals that major social media platforms are failing to provide basic protections to ensure the safety of their LGBTQ+ users.

The report, released by the American LGBTQ+ media advocacy organisation, analyses six leading platforms — TikTok, YouTube, X, and Meta’s Facebook, Instagram, and Threads — across 14 indicators. These cover issues such as data privacy, content moderation, moderator training, transparency, and workforce diversity.

Dangerous Policy Rollbacks

According to GLAAD, “unprecedented hate speech policy rollbacks from Meta and YouTube are actively undermining the safety of LGBTQ people and other historically marginalised groups, both online and offline.”

The organisation highlighted “alarming” 2025 policy changes, including YouTube’s removal of gender identity as a protected characteristic under its hate speech policy. Meta also introduced broad new exceptions permitting hate speech, such as referring to LGBTQ+ people as “abnormal” or “mentally ill”.

Failing Scores Across the Board

Out of a possible 100 points, the platforms received the following safety scores:

• TikTok: 56
• Facebook: 45
• Instagram: 45
• YouTube: 41
• Threads: 40
• X: 30

GLAAD stated that every company reviewed failed to meet basic safety standards in most categories.

“At a time when real-world violence and harassment against LGBTQ people is on the rise, social media companies are profiting from the flames of anti-LGBTQ hate instead of ensuring the basic safety of LGBTQ users,” said GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. “These low scores should terrify anyone who cares about creating safer, more inclusive online spaces.”

Harmful Practices and Lack of Accountability

The report identified several key issues threatening LGBTQ+ safety online. These include inadequate content moderation, poor enforcement of policies, harmful algorithms, and a lack of transparency in data use and decision-making.

GLAAD found that platforms disproportionately suppress LGBTQ+ content through removals, demonetisation, and shadow banning. These practices, the organisation asserts, disproportionately affect LGBTQ+ individuals and other marginalised communities already vulnerable to discrimination, harassment, and violence.

The rollback of protections has coincided with a sharp rise in real-world anti-LGBTQ+ incidents, said GLAAD, noting that its Anti-LGBTQ Extremism Reporting Tracker has documented a consistent increase in offline harassment, vandalism, and assault motivated by anti-LGBTQ+ hate in recent years.

GLAAD’s Call to Action

GLAAD is urging social media platforms to strengthen their policies to protect LGBTQ+ users from hate, harassment, and misinformation, while also ensuring that legitimate LGBTQ+ expression is not censored.

The organisation further recommends that all content moderators, including contractors, receive comprehensive training on LGBTQ+ safety and rights. AI tools, it adds, should only be used to flag content for human review — not to automate removals.

GLAAD also stressed the need for transparency in algorithmic systems and enforcement practices. Platforms must reduce data collection, respect user privacy, and proactively promote respectful discourse by supporting content creators and clearly communicating expectations for user behaviour.

“We need to hold the line — as tech companies are taking unprecedented leaps backwards, we remain firm in advocating for basic best practices that protect the safety of LGBTQ people on these platforms,” said Jenni Olson, GLAAD’s Senior Director of Social Media Safety. “This is not normal. Our communities deserve to live in a world that does not generate or profit off of hate.”