Latest news with #SocialMediaSafetyIndex
The Hindu
14-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Major social media platforms fail to protect LGBTQ users: Report
Major social media platforms such as Instagram and YouTube have failed to protect LGBTQ+ users from hate and harassment, in part, because they intentionally rolled back previous safety practices, the advocacy group GLAAD said Tuesday in its annual Social Media Safety Index. The report said that recent 'unprecedented hate speech policy rollbacks' from Instagram and Facebook parent Meta Platforms and Google's YouTube are 'actively undermining the safety of LGBTQ people' both online and offline. Meta's rollback now allows users to call LGBTQ people 'mentally ill,' among other policy changes. The scorecard assigns numeric ratings to each platform with regard to LGBTQ safety, privacy, and expression. Elon Musk's X received the lowest score at 30 out of 100, while TikTok came in highest at 56. Meta's Facebook, Instagram, Threads and Google's YouTube were in the 40s. The group's methodology has changed since last year, so the scores are not directly comparable to previous reports. '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 Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD's president and CEO. While X has received the lowest scores since Musk's takeover of the platform in 2022 — when it was called Twitter — Meta's backslide can largely be attributed to its recent policy shift. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in January that Meta is removing restrictions on topics like immigration and gender 'that are out of touch with mainstream discourse,' citing 'recent elections' as a catalyst. GLAAD calls the rollback 'particularly extreme." Representatives for Meta, TikTok and X did not immediately respond to messages for comment. GLAAD said Google recently removed 'gender identity and expression' from YouTube's list of protected characteristic groups, which suggests that the platform is "no longer protecting transgender, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming people from hate and discrimination." Google says this is not the case. 'We confirmed earlier this year our hate speech policy hasn't changed. We have strict policies against content that promotes hatred or violence against members of the LGBTQ+ community and we continue to be vigilant in our efforts to quickly detect and remove this content,' Google said in a statement. Although GLAAD acknowledges Google's statement, the organisation stresses that gender identity has not been restored as a protected characteristic on YouTube's hate speech policy page. 'YouTube should reverse this dangerous policy change and update its 'Hate Speech' policy to expressly include gender identity and expression as a protected characteristic,' the report says. GLAAD's report makes policy recommendations for protecting LGBTQ users, though it's unclear if the platforms will take these up, given that many have rolled back such protections. For instance, GLAAD says platforms should protect LGBTQ people from hate, harassment and violence, prohibit targeted misgendering and 'deadnaming' of transgender users and explain steps it takes to stop wrongfully removing or demonetising legitimate accounts and content related to LGBTQ topics.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
LGBTQ Social Media Users' Safety Is So Bad That GLAAD Changed the Way It Reviews Apps for a ‘More Complete Picture'
GLAAD issued its 'alarming' Social Media Safety Index report on Tuesday, which found that, after significant rollbacks in protected speech, social media platforms are overwhelmingly failing to protect LGBTQ people. The year-to-year decline is so sharp in the study, now in its fifth year, that the nonprofit advocacy group ditched its previous letter-grade system for a numeric one to more accurately reflect how negative platforms including X, Facebook and YouTube can be for the queer community, Jenni Olson, senior director of social media at GLAAD, told TheWrap. 'It became clear that the letter grades system wasn't fully reflecting the levels the platforms were at since they all would have just gotten F grades. The numeric ratings give a more complete picture,' Olson explained. In 2024, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Threads and X all received a grade of F, while TikTok earned only a slightly better D+: For 2025, the platforms were rated numerically, with TikTok at 56/100; Facebook: 45/100; Instagram: 45/100; YouTube: 41/100; Threads: 40/100; and X the lowest at 30/100. 'The terrible rollbacks from Meta and YouTube are the most important news this year,' Olson said, referring to both company's recent decisions to allow previously prohibited hate speech, such as references to LGBTQ people being 'abnormal' and 'mentally ill' as well as the use of pejorative terms such as 'tranny' and 'transgenderism.' 'It is especially horrible that YouTube removed gender identity from its list of protected characteristics — and yet is continuing to state that the policy hasn't changed, when it very clearly has … This is just unprecedented for a major platform. It is extremely concerning for a company to remove a protected characteristic group from a hate speech policy,' Olson said. '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,' GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement shared with TheWrap. 'These low scores should terrify anyone who cares about creating safer, more inclusive online spaces,' she added. Trans activist and journalist Imara Jones recently told TheWrap that X (formerly known as Twitter) is 'the most dangerous platform,' while the relatively new Bluesky, which was not included in GLAAD's report, is 'definitely much better' in moderating anti-trans speech. According to the report, online anti-trans hate, harassment and disinformation have skyrocketed in the past year, while some platforms 'disproportionately suppress LGBTQ content, via removal, demonetization and forms of shadowbanning.' The report analyzed 14 indicators affecting LGBTQ people online, including data privacy, moderation transparency, training of content moderators and workforce diversity. It was created in partnership with Ranking Digital Rights (RDR) and research consultant Andrea Hackl. Read the full GLAAD Social Media Safety Index report here. The post LGBTQ Social Media Users' Safety Is So Bad That GLAAD Changed the Way It Reviews Apps for a 'More Complete Picture' appeared first on TheWrap.
Boston Globe
13-05-2025
- Automotive
- Boston Globe
As foreign tourists stay away, US could lose $12.5 billion this year, tourism group says
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up AUTOMOTIVE Advertisement Nissan slashes 15 percent of its global workforce as the Japan automaker sinks into losses A logo for Japanese automaker Nissan is pictured at the top of their headquarters building on May 13. RICHARD A. BROOKS/AFP via Getty Images Nissan is slashing about 15 percent of its global workforce, or about 20,000 employees, as the Japanese automaker reported a loss Tuesday for the fiscal year that just ended amid slipping vehicle sales in China and other nations, and towering restructuring costs. Nissan Motor Corp. said it will reduce the number of its auto plants to 10 from 17, under what it called its recovery plan to carry out 'decisive and bold actions to enhance performance and create a leaner, more resilient business that adapts quickly to market changes.' It did not say which plants were being closed but confirmed the closures will include factories in Japan. The job cuts to be done by March 2028 include the 9,000 head count reduction announced last year. Nissan also previously announced the scrapping of plans to build a battery plant in Japan. — ASSOCIATED PRESS Advertisement TECH Microsoft to lay off about 3 percent of its workforce Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Wash. JOVELLE TAMAYO/NYT Microsoft began laying off nearly 3 percent of its entire workforce Tuesday, its largest mass layoff in more than two years. The tech giant didn't disclose the total amount of lost jobs but it will amount to about 6,000 people. That includes 1,985 workers in its home state of Washington, according to a notice it sent to the state workforce agency Tuesday. Microsoft employed 228,000 full-time workers as of last June, the last time it reported its annual headcount. About 55 percent of those workers were in the United States. Microsoft said the layoffs will be across all levels and geographies but the cuts will focus on reducing the number of managers. Notices to employees began going out on Tuesday. The latest layoffs come just weeks after Microsoft reported strong sales and profits that beat Wall Street expectations for the January-March quarter, which investors took as a dose of relief during a turbulent time for the tech sector and US economy. — ASSOCIATED PRESS SOCIAL MEDIA Major platforms fail to protect LGBTQ users, advocacy group says The logo of X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, displayed on a smartphone in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Aug. 31, 2024. Tuane Fernandes/Bloomberg Major social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and X have failed to protect LGBTQ+ users from hate and harassment, in part, because they intentionally rolled back previous safety practices, the advocacy group GLAAD said Tuesday in its annual Social Media Safety Index. The report said that recent 'unprecedented hate speech policy rollbacks' from Instagram and Facebook parent Meta Platforms and Google's YouTube are 'actively undermining the safety of LGBTQ people' both online and offline. Meta's rollback now allows users to call LGBTQ people 'mentally ill,' among other policy changes. The scorecard assigns numeric ratings to each platform with regard to LGBTQ safety, privacy, and expression. Elon Musk's X received the lowest score at 30 out of 100, while TikTok came in highest at 56. Meta's Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and Google's YouTube were in the 40s. The group's methodology has changed since last year, so the scores are not directly comparable to previous reports. While X has received the lowest scores since Musk's takeover of the platform in 2022 — when it was called Twitter — Meta's backslide can largely be attributed to its recent policy shift. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in January that Meta is removing restrictions on topics like immigration and gender 'that are out of touch with mainstream discourse,' citing 'recent elections' as a catalyst. GLAAD calls the rollback 'particularly extreme." — ASSOCIATED PRESS Advertisement GOVERNMENT Facing lawsuit, USDA says it will restore climate change-related webpages The US Department of Agriculture building stands in Washington on Dec. 7, 2024. Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press The US Department of Agriculture has agreed to restore climate change-related webpages to its websites after it was sued over the deletions in February. The lawsuit, brought on behalf of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Environmental Working Group, argued that the deletions violated rules around citizens' access to government information. The USDA's reversal comes ahead of a scheduled May 21 hearing on the plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction against the agency's actions in federal court in New York. The department had removed resources on its websites related to climate-smart farming, conservation practices, rural clean energy projects and access to federal loans related to those areas after President Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration. — ASSOCIATED PRESS Advertisement MARKETS Tesla's board chair made $198 million selling stock as profit fell The chair of Tesla's board, Robyn Denholm, has made $198 million in the past six months selling Tesla stock that she earned for serving on the board, according to a New York Times analysis of securities filings. Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg In March, after a steep decline in Tesla's share price, Elon Musk told employees, 'Hang on to your stock.' The chair of Tesla's board, Robyn Denholm, has not heeded his advice. Denholm has made $198 million in the past six months selling Tesla stock that she earned for serving on the board, according to a New York Times analysis of securities filings. That brings her total profit on the sale of Tesla stock to more than $530 million since becoming the board's leader in late 2018, far more than her peers have made at the most valuable US companies during that time, the analysis shows. The share sales raise questions about Denholm's confidence in Tesla's prospects. Her most recent sales, executed under a prearranged trading plan filed last summer, came as Musk, the company's CEO, took a time-consuming role in the Trump administration. Tesla's car sales have plunged partly because Musk's political activities have turned off some car buyers. The company's quarterly profit fell in the first three months of 2025 to its lowest level in four years. — NEW YORK TIMES LABOR Starbucks baristas strike over dress code, signal more walkouts A Starbucks coffee shop in New York on Jan. 29, 2024. Angus Mordant/Bloomberg Hundreds of Starbucks Corp. employees have walked off the job since Sunday to protest the company's new dress code, according to the union representing baristas, with more strikes likely in the coming days. The walkouts have occurred at more than 50 US stores, Starbucks Workers United said. The union represents baristas at about 570 of the chain's more than 10,000 company-operated locations in the United States. Starbucks said that there's been no significant impact to store operations on a national level and most stores are open and serving customers as usual. The coffee chain on Monday implemented a new dress code that requires baristas to wear solid black tops, a change from prior practice that allowed any color. There are also new rules on the bottoms baristas can wear, among other changes. — BLOOMBERG NEWS Advertisement MEDIA CNN's new streaming service will debut this fall Three years after CNN's parent company killed the hotly anticipated (and very expensive) CNN+ service shortly after it was released, the news network will introduce a new streaming product this fall that packages live and on-demand programming. Mike Stewart/Associated Press CNN is getting ready to launch a streaming service. Again. Three years after CNN's parent company killed the hotly anticipated (and very expensive) CNN+ service shortly after it was released, the news network will introduce a new streaming product this fall that packages live and on-demand programming. Mark Thompson, the company's chief executive, told employees about the service in a meeting Tuesday afternoon. Some of the details about the service remain unclear, including pricing and an exact release date. But Thompson said the new service would be tied to the company's recently introduced subscription product, which gives paying members unlimited access to articles posted on CNN is also taking pains to avoid alienating its most valuable customers: traditional cable distributors. Those customers will have free access to CNN's streaming service. — NEW YORK TIMES
Axios
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Axios
GLAAD: Social media's hate policy rollbacks are "appalling"
Meta 's and YouTube's updated moderation policies are threatening the safety of and harming LBGTQ people, according to a new report from GLAAD. The big picture:"Recent years undeniably illustrate how online hate speech and misinformation negatively influence public opinion, legislation, and the real-world safety and health of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people," GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said. "It's just appalling to see such extreme shifts away from best practices in trust and safety," Jenni Olson, senior director of GLAAD's Social Media Safety Program, told Axios. "Execs and employees at these companies owe the LGBTQ community answers about what their next steps are going to be to address these issues and stand up for the safety of their LGBTQ users," she said. Driving the news: In its annual Social Media Safety Index, GLAAD gave failing scores (out of 100) to all six of the platforms it tracks with TikTok at 56, Facebook and Instagram both at 45, YouTube at 41, Threads at 40 and X at 30. GLAAD's report analyzed 14 indicators, including having public policies that protect LGBTQ people from hate, harassment and violence, and that prohibit content promoting so-called conversion therapy. While all six platforms received failing scores, TikTok received the highest as it prohibits misgendering and deadnaming along with "conversion therapy" content, the report said. But the report criticized TikTok's transparency. "Major ideological shifts from Meta have been particularly extreme," Ellis said. The study suggested Meta remove "harmful exceptions" in its policy, such as their decision to now allow debunked "allegations of mental illness or abnormality" when it comes to gender and sexual orientation. Catch up quick: Meta relaxed its moderation policies in January, which immediately raised concerns about leading to more real-world violence. Meta's Oversight Board called on the company to investigate the impact on human rights. YouTube also removed "gender identity and expression" from its protected characteristic groups on its site. The company said its policies have not changed, but GLAAD noted "it is an objective fact that the gender identity protection is no longer expressly present in its public-facing policy." Between the lines: GLAAD changed its scorecard methodology, which negates year-to-year comparisons. The report has been released annually since 2021, as Axios' Ina Fried was first to report. The other side: TikTok, Meta and X did not respond to requests for comment. YouTube: " We confirmed earlier this year our hate speech policy hasn't changed. We have strict policies against content that promotes hatred or violence against members of the LGBTQ+ community and we continue to be vigilant in our efforts to quickly detect and remove this content," Boot Bullwinkle, a YouTube spokesperson, said in a statement to Axios. What we're watching: GLAAD offered five key recommendations in its report for the social media platforms.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Major social media platforms failing to meet ‘basic standards' of safety for LGBTQ users: GLAAD
Six of the nation's leading social media platforms are failing to keep LGBTQ users safe from online bullying and harassment and quell the spread of disinformation, according to a new report from GLAAD, an LGBTQ media advocacy group. Now in its fifth year, GLAAD's Social Media Safety Index evaluates policies and product features of TikTok, X, YouTube, and Meta's Instagram, Facebook and Threads on more than a dozen LGBTQ-specific indicators, including whether platforms have public-facing policies against deadnaming and misgendering or regulations preventing users from engaging in hate speech that targets LGBTQ people. The social media landscape has shifted drastically since the group published its first report in 2021, said Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD's president and CEO, 'with new and dangerous challenges in 2025.' In January, Meta, owned by Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, dropped some of its rules protecting LGBTQ people, allowing users to share 'allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality.' The updated language, part of a broader overhaul of the social media giant's content moderation practices, also permits users to argue for 'gender-based limitations of military, law enforcement, and teaching jobs' and sex- or gender-based exclusion from spaces like restrooms and sports. 'What started as a movement to be more inclusive has increasingly been used to shut down opinions and shut out people with different ideas, and it's gone too far,' Zuckerberg said in a video announcing the new policies. He said the November elections, which saw Republicans retake control of Congress and the White House, 'feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing speech.' President Trump celebrated the updated policies, which included eliminating the company's third-party fact-checking program. In its report on Tuesday, GLAAD called the changes at Meta 'draconian' and said the company should restore sections of its hateful conduct policy that shielded LGBTQ people from harassment. The group said it was also 'deeply concerned' about what it said was a similar policy shift at YouTube, which removed gender identity and expression from its hate speech policy's list of protected characteristics last month. In a post on X, the social platform owned by billionaire and Trump White House adviser Elon Musk, YouTube said it removed that language as part of a 'routine' copy edit to its Help Center, and its policy against hate speech had not changed. YouTube's public-facing policy states it does not allow content that promotes violence or hatred against individuals based on 'Sex, Gender, or Sexual Orientation.' Each of the six platforms failed to pass GLAAD's evaluation, with TikTok scoring the highest, 56 out of a possible 100, and X, at 30, scoring the lowest. A TikTok spokesperson declined to comment on GLAAD's findings. Representatives for X, YouTube and Meta did not return requests for comment. '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,' Ellis said in a statement Tuesday. 'These low scores should terrify anyone who cares about creating safer, more inclusive online spaces.' GLAAD acknowledged Tuesday in its report that some companies have worked to make LGBTQ users, particularly transgender users, safer on their platforms. TikTok's hate and harassment policies, for instance, 'provide the most comprehensive protections for LGBTQ people,' according to the group's report, including a prohibition on intentional deadnaming and misgendering, and YouTube this year rolled back a policy that allowed advertisers to exclude some users from seeing ads based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Advertisers on YouTube are also prohibited from promoting conversion therapy, a discredited practice that aims to change a person's gender identity or sexual orientation, but the platform has not adopted a similar policy for individual users, according to GLAAD. While it ranked lowest on the organization's scorecard, X is one of just two platforms — the other being TikTok — that prohibit both targeted misgendering and deadnaming, though that protection is granted only 'where required by local laws,' according to X's abuse and harassment policies. The company also 'must always hear from the target' to determine whether a violation has occurred, effectively requiring targeted individuals to engage with and report content that might be against the rules. Jenni Olson, GLAAD's senior director of social media safety, said tech companies 'are taking unprecedented leaps backwards' in their policies regarding targeted harassment. 'This is not normal,' she said in a statement. 'Our communities deserve to live in a world that does not generate or profit off of hate.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
