GLAAD report finds social media feeds into real-world danger for LGBTQ people

June 15 (UPI) -- GLAAD's annual social media safety report finds anti-LGTBQ rhetoric translates to real-world offline harms as platforms are failing to mitigate dangerous hate and disinformation.

The Social Media Safety Index & Platform Scorecard also found anti-LGBTQ hate speech continues to be an alarming public health and safety issue while social media platforms disproportionately suppress LGBTQ content.

The GLAAD report evaluated Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and Twitter.

The non-profit LGBTQ advocacy group's report said: "Right wing media outlets, hate-driven grifter pundits, and opportunist political figures continue to target LGBTQ people and the rights and dignity of other historically marginalized groups. In doing so, they make special use of social media, in many cases flagrantly violating the community guidelines and hate speech policies set in place by platforms to protect users."

The GLAAD report said, "multi-billion dollar social media platforms continue to profit from such hate" and "our community should be rightfully furious with these companies."

Particularly alarming, the report said, is the repeated use of anti-LGBTQ tropes like the increasingly widespread accusation of "groomer" that portrays LGBTQ people as threats to children.

That dangerous trope, GLAAD said, has been accompanied by "an equally popular strain of extremist rhetoric baselessly and falsely mischaracterizing safe, effective, evidence-based gender affirming healthcare for trans youth with terms like "child abuse, mutilation, sterilization, etc."

According to GLAAD, those tropes translate to real-world danger for LGBTQ people.

"This inflammatory mischaracterization, which has gained traction with right-wing extremists leading to bomb threats on hospitals and targeting of health care providers, is a very clear form of anti-trans hate speech intended to foment animus and violence against trans people and their allies," the GLAAD social media report said.

GLAAD made recommendations in the report for steps that could improve social media safety protections for LGBTQ people.

Among GLAAD's core recommendations is to strengthen and enforce existing social media policies that protect LGBTQ and other people from hate, harassment and disinformation.

The group also said more trained moderators are needed as well as transparency on content moderation, algorithm designs and enforcement reports. GLAAD said data privacy also should be respected and civil discourse promoted on social media.