If there's one thing that social media is in need of more is censorship. It needs an end to conservatism, specifically, according to the socially Left coalition.
As reported by The Washington Free Beacon, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation recently published the “Social Media Safety Index” report. It doesn’t look good according to safety concerns.
The document’s “executive summary” makes clear the report's goals:
The goal…is to push the major social media platforms to be accountable and transparent — specifically to the LGBTQ users they serve, but also to society as a whole. The centerpiece of this second edition of the SMSI is our Platform Scorecard. Created in partnership with Goodwin Simon Strategic Research and the noted Big Tech accountability watchdog group, Ranking Digital Rights, the Scorecard offers an evaluation of LGBTQ safety, privacy, and expression on five major platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube) based on 12 LGBTQ- specific indicators.
Why is safety an issue?
In a letter, GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis claims:
LGBTQ people are under attack right now, all across the globe. Since the start of 2022, Republican lawmakers have proposed 325 anti-LGBTQ bills, 130 of which specifically target the rights of transgender people, especially trans youth.
The hatred is everywhere:
Attacking vulnerable groups of people as a political strategy, and stoking fear and hatred about them, is something we’ve seen across history. It’s a reprehensible practice — and the spread of such hate today is further facilitated by social media platforms. This type of rhetoric and “content” that dehumanizes LGBTQ people has real-world impact. These malicious and false narratives, relentlessly perpetuated by right-wing media and politicians, continue to negatively impact public understanding of LGBTQ people — driving hatred, and violence, against our community.
“At this point,” Sarah states, “after their years of empty apologies and hollow promises, we must also confront the knowledge that social media platforms and companies are prioritizing profit over LGBTQ safety and lives.”
Sarah and others “demand that social media platforms make their products safe for LGBTQ users.”
Issues highlighted by the report:
- inadequate content moderation and enforcement (including issues with both anti- LGBTQ hateful content and over-moderation/ censorship of LGBTQ users)
- harmful and polarizing algorithms
- an overall lack of transparency and accountability across the industry, among many…issues — all of which disproportionately impact LGBTQ users and other marginalized communities who are uniquely vulnerable to hate, harassment, and discrimination
“These problems,” the executive summary states, “are even more exacerbated for folks who are members of multiple communities (BIPOC, women, immigrants, people with disabilities, people of historically marginalized faiths, etc.).”
“Social media platforms should be safe for everyone, in all of who they are.”
In the last few years, there has been a lot of discussions about “safety.” So far as I've seen, “safety” is a term that often means “agreement.”
No matter what the definition of the word is, are the scales of Justice social media's representation of tilted against those who are part of the rainbow coalition?
There's no doubt that more than a few people would vote “no.” As reported a few days ago, Jordan Peterson was suspended from Twitter after referring to Elliot Page by a former name.
His insufferable tweet:
“Remember when pride was a sin? And Ellen Page just had her breasts removed by a criminal physician.”
Then, shortly after, Political commentator Dave Rubin wrote, “The insanity continues at Twitter. @jordanbpeterson has been suspended for this tweet about Ellen Page. He just told me he will ‘never’ delete the tweet.”
Dave got suspended, too, after his post.
However, GLAAD's seeking something more. Social media must “improve (the) design of algorithms that [presently] circulate and amplify harmful content, extremism and hate.”
The Free Beacon:
Every social media platform rated by GLAAD in the report scored under 50 on a scale of 100 for “LGBTQ safety.” Instagram scored the highest and TikTok the lowest. One category used to determine how safe a website was for gay people is whether it had a dedicated feature for users to list their pronouns on their profiles.
Could social media become “safer?” With the Musk deal in the process of being canceled, it's a good bet.
