Oct 1
Editorial: Meta’s Instagram needs to stop flagging queer content
BAR Editorial Board READ TIME: 3 MIN.
It wasn’t lost on us that the same week we reported how queer content creators are having their posts flagged on Instagram, we were also dinged for a newsletter we shared on the site highlighting activities ahead of the Folsom Street Fair. “Inappropriate” was the term used by Instagram, as we also found that the link couldn’t be shared for some people. Instagram, the popular social media app owned by Meta, which also owns Facebook, Threads, and WhatsApp, needs to end this double standard whereby queer content is censored or removed solely because it is LGBTQ.
Ever since Mark Zuckerberg, owner of Meta, cozied up to Republican President Donald Trump, the social media sites he controls have been less than LGBTQ-friendly, and even downright hostile. One of Meta’s first acts earlier this year, as we previously noted, announced it was doing away with independent fact-checkers. It now includes new exceptions expressly allowing hate speech, such as stating that LGBTQ people are “abnormal” and “mentally ill.” Zuckerberg, of course, was at Trump’s inaugural in January and gave him $1 million to help fund the event. More recently, he said that Meta would be investing $600 billion into the U.S.
If all of this sounds troubling, well, it is. Instagram has told some content creators that the appearance of a butt was synonymous with the solicitation of sex, which is ridiculous. (And, by the way, our Folsom-themed newsletter contained no nudity.) The Exiles, a storied San Francisco woman- and queer-centered educational Leather/BDSM organization, saw its account taken down for no reason and no specific post cited, as we reported. Still others, such as Jesus Gutierrez, co-founder of the Yes Homo gay lifestyle brand, saw the company’s Instagram account suspended in February for the alleged violation of “encouraging sexual activities.” One T-shirt that listed New York City LGBTQ venues was flagged as “promoting dangerous organizations.” Lucky for him, Gutierrez told us that he had a contact at Meta who was able to reverse the suspension within days. Yes, Gutierrez said he knows that’s a privilege.
Instagram’s free-wheeling suspensions and shadow banning (where content is secretly hidden or downplayed in user searches and algorithms without notifying the creators) is just another example of bias geared toward the LGBTQ community by these giant social media companies that many of us use and rely on. At the core of this is the anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion emphasis pushed by Trump and his administration. Social media companies are only one example, albeit a big one since billions of people use the platforms daily. Especially in the LGBTQ community, sites like Instagram are a place to share information and promote events, not to mention businesses.
Paige Collings with Electronic Freedom Foundation told us that what Instagram is doing around LGBTQ content creators is “algorithmic silencing around content.” There has been a proliferation of censorship of LGBTQ content, she noted, that has been most evident over the past two years, but especially since last November. That was, of course, when Trump won the presidential election. He spent much of his campaign going after trans people, and that only intensified when he took office. Among his first executive orders was declaring there are only two genders – male and female – and he also signed an order banning trans people from serving in the military.
As we’ve weathered these first eight months of the second Trump administration, it’s been brutal for the community, especially trans people. There has been an unending stream of invective on social media, from MAGA adherents, top administration officials, and others. Meanwhile, finding strong supportive voices online has been a crapshoot, and none are in any real position of power to do anything, or if they are, they continue to balk at trans issues, such as California Governor Gavin Newsom.
It is appalling that Instagram and its parent, Meta, hide behind vague policies and often don’t respond to creators’ concerns. They should. These companies can do what they like, however, and under this administration, it’s clear they’ve caved to Trump.
