HRW calls on Meta to improve LGBTQ+ protections News
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HRW calls on Meta to improve LGBTQ+ protections

Human Rights Watch (HRW) called for Meta to improve their protection of LGBTQ+ people on Facebook and Instagram on Tuesday. This new campaign follows an HRW report from 2023, which found that security forces in the Middle East and North Africa use social media platforms to gather evidence to prosecute them.

A new campaign, titled “Secure Socials,” launched today to promote the protection of the LGBTQ+ community on social media. Human rights organisations Social Media Exchange (SMEX), INSM Foundation for Digital Rights, Helem and Damj Association teamed up with HRW to call on Meta to change their policies. They urged Meta to be fully transparent and publish data demonstrating their investment in user safety, as well as their justifications and explanations of how these investments proportionately address the risk of harm in these countries.

The campaign builds on a 2023 HRW report titled “‘All This Terror Because of a Photo’: Digital Targeting and Its Offline Consequences for LGBT People in the Middle East and North Africa.” The report analysed how security forces used digital targeting on social media platforms owned by Meta to harass, entrap and prosecute LGBTQ+ people in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Tunisia. They interviewed 120 individuals, including lawyers, digital rights professionals, and LGBTQ+ people impacted by digital targeting. In many cases, security forces used photos, WhatsApp chats and LGBTQ+ dating applications to prosecute them. Many of the LGBTQ+ people who were detained stated that they were denied access to a lawyer and were forced to sign confession statements regarding their illegal behaviour. 

Rasha Jones, acting LGBTQ+ rights deputy director at HRW, commented on the campaign and Meta’s inaction, stating:

As the largest social media company in the world, Meta should be a global leader in making social media safe for everyone … When LGBT people, who already face insecurity offline, use Facebook and Instagram for connection and organizing, they deserve certainty that Meta is doing everything in its power to ensure their security.

HRW further stated that it has been discussing these concerns with Meta for months and has issued two letters with specific questions regarding these issues since the report. Meta has declined to produce a written response.

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