GLAAD's Social Media Safety Index Unveils How Tech Companies Intentionally Rolled Back Safety Policies for LGBTQ People

GLAAD, the world’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer media advocacy organization announced the findings of its fifth annual Social Media Safety Index, an annual report on LGBTQ safety, privacy, and expression. The in-depth report analyzes six major social media platforms—TikTok, YouTube, X, and Meta’s Facebook, Instagram, and Threads—across 14 indicators, which address a range of issues affecting LGBTQ people online, including data privacy, moderation transparency, training of content moderators, and workforce diversity. The report found that recent, unprecedented hate speech policy rollbacks from Meta and YouTube are actively undermining the safety of LGBTQ people and other historically marginalized groups, both online and offline. Alarming 2025 platform policy changes include YouTube’s removal of gender identity as a protected characteristic in its hate speech policy, and Meta’s wide-ranging rollbacks, including new exceptions expressly allowing hate speech, such as stating that LGBTQ people are “abnormal” and “mentally ill.” Out of a possible 100, the platforms received the following scores:

• TikTok: 56/100
• Facebook: 45/100
• Instagram: 45/100
• YouTube: 41/100
• Threads: 40/100
• X: 30/100