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Facebook Called Out for Not Cracking Down on Anti-LGBTQ+ Hate Speech in Arab Countries

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In the months leading up to the 2020 presidential election, Facebook has faced deepening scrutiny over how the company moderates extremists who use the platform to target and belittle people from marginalized communities. Now, the social media platform is also facing criticism for how it manages anti-LGBTQ+ hate speech in Arab countries.

More than 20 international LGBTQ+ groups signed an open letter calling on Facebook to crack down on posts that have advocated for violence against LGBTQ+ people in the Middle Eastern and North African region. Gay Star News recently called attention to a June 29 post flagged by the activist coalition, in which one man made virulently anti-LGBTQ+ comments that weren’t moderated by the platform. It reads, “If you think it’s your right to act on sodomy/ homosexuality, then it’s my right to throw you off the roof.”

The post clearly goes against Facebook’s community norms and standards, but the lack of moderation is concerning to the advocates, who note that allowing anti-LGBTQ+ hate speech to run rampant on the social media website has dire real-world consequences. In the open letter, they cite the recent suicide death of Egyptian-Canadian activist Sarah Hegazy, who fled to Canada after she was targeted by Egyptian authorities for raving a rainbow flag at a concert in Cairo.

“During her arrest, Sarah was subject to various forms of abuse, discrimination, and torture. Eventually, the young activist fled the country to seek asylum in Canada, but that didn’t stop the messages of hate she received every day on social media accounts,” the letter states, noting that it was a factor in her June 13 suicide.

“Although the MENA LGBTQI+ community has been reporting thousands of Arabic hate speech posts targeting women in general, and people of different sexual orientations in particular–most of these reports were declined because the content “did not contradict the Facebook community standards,” the letter continues. “This is due to the lax implementation of effective anti-hate speech policies to manage the platform in our region, which makes the platform unsafe for sexual minorities.”

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As part of their call the action, the letter’s signatories are demanding that Facebook hold an emergency meeting with members of the LGBTQ+ community in the MENA region, establish mechanisms to individually investigate all cases of anti-LGBTQ+ hate speech, train staff on LGBTQ+ issues related to gender identity, sexual orientation and civil rights, as well as the appointment of an expert dedicated to combating hate speech within the Facebook Wise Council Committee.

Organizations including the USA’s Rainbow Street, Australia’s Project Ally, Morocco’s ATYAF Collective for Sexual and Gender Diversity, and the Arab Network for Knowledge about Human Rights are part of the nearly two-dozen member coalition calling for reforms at Facebook.

Major advertisers, including Coca-Cola, Honda, Ford, Verizon and Starbucks, have withheld marketing spending from Facebook during July, in an act of protest to challenge how the company handles misinformation and hate speech. During a virtual town hall meeting on Friday, Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said that the company would hide or block any content that could harm voting, or that is considered to be hate speech, and would not make any exceptions for politicians, according to Marketwatch.

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