How GLAAD is keeping social media companies accountable through its Social Media Safety Index and its new Platform Scorecard.
Last month, hate and harassment of LGBTQ social media users made headlines when actor Elliot Page was deadnamed and misgendered on Twitter by conservative author and academic Jordan Peterson. Peterson’s account was suspended for violating Twitter’s hateful conduct policy, which prohibits targeted deadnaming—referring to someone’s name prior to transition—and misgendering. (Twitter is one of only a few social media platforms, including TikTok and Pinterest, with such a policy.) The past year has shed tremendous light on the hate and harassment faced in online environments by members of the LGBTQ community, thanks to widespread media coverage and research. According to a recent report by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), two-thirds of LGBTQ respondents say they have experienced harassment online.
The digital rights community has long called on social media platforms to do more to create a safer online environment for LGBTQ people and other vulnerable communities. With GLAAD’s new 2022 Social Media Safety Index (SMSI) report and its Platform Scorecard, the community now has a tool in hand to hold companies to account for how their publicly disclosed policy commitments impact LGBTQ expression, privacy, and safety online.
For this first-ever Scorecard, Goodwin Simon Strategic Research (GSSR), the independent public opinion research firm, partnered with GLAAD and RDR to create an accountability tool building on RDR’s rigorous methodology and best practices. GLAAD’s inaugural SMSI report in 2021 laid bare the existing state of LGBTQ safety, privacy, and expression on the platforms. It also set forth the eventual goal of evaluating the platforms using a standardized scorecard. Given the critical role that RDR plays in holding major tech companies accountable for respecting user rights, GLAAD looked no further than RDR’s standards and best practices when setting out to develop the new 2022 SMSI Scorecard.
Across 12 indicators, GLAAD assessed how Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok’s publicly disclosed policies impact their LGBTQ users. These indicators draw on best practices and guidelines, as well as feedback from RDR, while more directly addressing issues impacting LGBTQ users. For example, the first indicator looks at companies’ disclosed policy commitments to protect such users (for more details, you can read our one-pager describing our scorecard development and see the full list of indicators).
This first iteration of the Platform Scorecard this year shows that leading social media platforms fail at adequately protecting their LGBTQ users. None of the five companies that GLAAD evaluated had a combined score, across all indicators, of more than 50%. In the report, GLAAD highlights several areas where tech companies need to do better. Of note: There is a clear lack of transparency across the board. Some of the most glaring findings include:
- Companies lack transparency about what options users have to exert control over whether and how information related to sexual orientation and gender identity is collected, inferred, and used by platforms to draw conclusions about LGBTQ people’s identities.
- In particular, companies disclose little regarding what control users have over whether they are shown content based on this information. Users should not be shown content based on their gender identity or sexual orientation unless they explicitly opt-in.
- Companies also lack transparency about the steps they take to address demonetization and wrongful removal of legitimate LGBTQ-related content from ad services. This means, for example, that when LGBTQ creators’ content is suppressed or removed by platforms, the companies share little information with the creator explaining why.
- While all of the companies we evaluated claim to engage with organizations representing LGBTQ people, none of the companies disclose the appointment of an LGBTQ policy lead to ensure that the companies’ policies reflect the true needs of LGBTQ users.
- Twitter and TikTok are currently the only two platforms GLAAD evaluated that have policies prohibiting targeted deadnaming and misgendering. TikTok adopted this prohibition in response to the release of the 2021 SMSI. (It’s worth noting that the general lack of transparency from platforms means that the SMSI cannot assess the companies’ enforcement of stated policies, including this one.)
For each of the companies in the report, GLAAD lays out clear policy recommendations that companies should implement in order to create a safer online environment for their LGBTQ users. For instance, social media companies should emulate Twitter and TikTok by prohibiting targeted deadnaming and misgendering. Other recommendations include a ban on potentially harmful/and or discriminatory advertising content, the disclosure of training for content moderators, and a commitment to continuously diversifying the company’s workforce. As mentioned, companies should also hire an LGBTQ policy lead as part of their human rights teams to oversee the implementation of these policy commitments and ensure that they are truly reflective of users’ needs. Following such recommendations would not only allow companies to create a safer online environment for the LGBTQ community, but would also potentially lead the way on progress for other vulnerable communities and under-represented voices. For example, a commitment to diversifying a company’s workforce would help make sure that people of color, people with disabilities, as well as other groups are represented within the company and included in the development and implementation of the company’s policies, products, and services.
Thanks to GLAAD’s SMSI and Platform Scorecard, the digital rights community is now able to track companies’ progress on commitments to policies meant to protect LGBTQ users. GLAAD is holding ongoing briefings with each platform to review issues that LGBTQ users face and advocate for the recommendations described in the report. GLAAD’s Social Media Safety program maintains an ongoing dialogue about LGBTQ safety amongst tech industry leaders. It also spotlights new and existing safety issues facing LGBTQ users in real-time, both to the platforms and to the press and public.
The threats that LGBTQ users, as well as those from other vulnerable communities, face online are many and are constantly evolving. Therefore, GLAAD hopes that the SMSI will continue to expand and grow to include indicators on other pressing LGBTQ-related policy issues, including disinformation on gender-affirming care. The Scorecard has an important role to play in helping to create an online environment that might finally allow LGBTQ users to express themselves both fully and safely online.
Read the full GLAAD Social Media Safety Index and Platform Scorecard.
