Facebook Still Profiting From Anti-LGBTQ Ads
On Friday, Media Matters reported that Facebook has continued to profit off of anti-LGBTQ ads perpetuating harmful tropes and riddled with hate speech by the organization American Principles Project (APP).
Among the harmful ads by APP, one targets the Equality Act, which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, with civil rights protections in public and private sectors, in businesses, medical settings, and in welfare. The ads also stoke unfounded fears about gender reassignment surgeries for minors, as well as the alleged destruction of women's sports by allowing transgender women to compete. The ads also specifically target Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden and other LGBTQ-supporting Democrats such as Senator Gary Peters of Michigan.
Media Matters found earlier this year that "right-leaning sources dominated Facebook engagement on content about trans issues that earned more than 100,000 interactions (reactions, comments, shares). Those sources earned 65.7% of the total interactions studied -- nearly double the engagement of all other sources combined. Specifically, content from right-leaning sources about trans athletes or medical care for trans people accounted for more than 35% of total content analyzed."
Both the Human Rights Campaign and GLAAD have condemned the ads as "[blatant] lies" that misrepresent the LGBTQ community.
Media Matters reports that these ads have been projected to have earned Facebook nearly $25,000 as a consequence. In June, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted about the company's new hate speech policies, which would include anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.
Zuckerberg's June 26 post stated:
"We believe there is a public interest in allowing a wider range of free expression in people's posts than in paid ads. We already restrict certain types of content in ads that we allow in regular posts, but we want to do more to prohibit the kind of divisive and inflammatory language that has been used to sow discord. So today we're prohibiting a wider category of hateful content in ads. Specifically, we're expanding our ads policy to prohibit claims that people from a specific race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, caste, sexual orientation, gender identity or immigration status are a threat to the physical safety, health or survival of others."
Despite Zuckerberg's post, ads from APP continue to run and earn revenue for Facebook. This is particularly striking given that other social media companies have followed through on enforcing hate speech policies.
In July, after instituting a ban on LGBTQ conversion therapy ads earlier in the year, Instagram decided to ban all content pertaining to the harmful practice. TikTok is contending with bans on anti-LGBTQ content, perceived or otherwise. And earlier in the year, President Trump threatened to "strongly regulate" social media companies after Twitter instituted fact-checking on some of his factually inaccurate Tweets.
While social media companies such as Instagram, TikTok and Twitter are taking action with misinformation, untruths, and hate speech, the APP ads are still running on Facebook.