Social media can be used to build community, build business, and express yourself. But when in the wrong hands, it can be used as a tool to discriminate, harass and degrade. Good, GLAAD Social Media Safety Index (WSIS) underlines precisely this.

In the recently released survey, GLAAD assessed LGBTQ user safety for LGBTQ people. The platforms examined were Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. This year’s WSIS builds on last year’s inaugural survey and details how these social media platforms are cultivating safety, privacy and LGBTQ expression.

So how did your favorite social media platforms measure up? Well, they all score miserably. Out of 100%, none of the platforms scored above 50%. Here is the breakdown below:

• Instagram = 48%
• Facebook = 46%
• Tiktok = 45%
• YouTube = 45%
• Twitter = 43%

Ouch!

Why did they score so low? Well, each platform has a policy that states its commitment to protecting its LGBTQ users, but it falls short of other protections and policies. For example, while TikTok and Twitter prevent users from mistaking and giving dead names, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube do not. Each platform has bans in place to prevent harmful anti-LGBTQ advertising, but all five sites do a poor job of preventing the demonetization and removal of LGBTQ content.

And that’s not even taking into account the lack of control over sexual orientation and gender identity data, the ability to add pronouns to profiles, and the lack of enforcement of their policies on their commitment to protect people. LGBTQ users.

“Today’s political and cultural landscapes demonstrate the real-world harmful effects of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and online misinformation,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement. “The hate and harassment, along with the blatant misinformation and lies about LGBTQ people, which are going viral on social media, create real dangers, from legislation that harms our community to recent threats of violence at protest rallies. pride.

Anti-LGBTQ content and information about anti-LGBTQ legislation is disseminated on social media. This dissemination of information increases anti-LGBTQ sentiment and harms queer and trans people both online and in person.

A report created by the Anti-Defamation League revealed that “66% of LGBTQ+ survey respondents said they had experienced hate-motivated online harassment.” It also revealed that “54% of LGBTQ+ respondents said they had experienced ‘severe harassment’, which covers physical threats, stalking, sexual harassment and doxing”.

Discouraged to read, when online communities are sometimes the only ways LGBTQ people can connect, share resources, and build a support system.

You can read the full survey here.