Guess which social media platform ranked lowest on protections for LGBTQ users?

A report from media advocacy organization GLAAD tracks how platforms are handling reports of hate speech and censorship on TikTok, Meta, and X.

In 2025, YouTube decided to remove gender identity as a protected characteristic in its hate speech policy, while Meta expressly now allows statements that LGBTQ people are “abnormal” and “mentally ill.”

With this backdrop, GLAAD—the world’s largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization—published its annual report to measure how social media platforms are handling issues of importance to the LGBTQ+ community. The report measured TikTok, X, YouTube, Meta’s Instagram, Facebook, and Threads—with TikTok ranking the highest and X ranking the lowest.

The report found that in addition to not properly moderating hate speech against these groups, platforms are suppressing LGBTQ content. They are also withholding important information about data privacy standards, which could be important to users who are worried about government overreach or surveillance.

According to GLAAD’s research, suppressing content could look like wrongful takedowns of LGBTQ accounts and creators, mis-labeling of LGBTQ content as “adult” or “explicit,” unwarranted demonetization of LGBTQ material, and shadowbanning.

GLAAD also found—which is echoed across reports from previous years—that platforms need to do a better job of scaling human moderation over AI moderation. And they suggest that platforms not require people to self-report harm, and also that tech companies do a better job of revealing their hiring practices of LGBTQ employees.

Here are some more stories at the intersection of tech, labor, and power that we’re paying attention to this week:

AMATEUR INVESTORS LOSE THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS AFTER TRUMP COIN PURCHASE. A Washington Post analysis of public blockchain ledger data found that at least 67,000 new or small-time crypto investors $15 million into the Trump’s meme coin. Almost all of them bought near the coin’s peak, just before the inauguration, and 80 percent of them have seen the value of their holdings plummet. 58 investors have so far made more than $10 million each in profits from the coin, but 764,000 other investors—most of whom had small holdings—have lost money on the coin.

A CRYPTO FOUNDER’S FAKE SUICIDE. A video circulating on Sunday showed crypto founder Jeffy Yu taking his own life — but a few days later, the San Francisco Standard found him standing outside of his parents’ house complaining about being doxxed. On-chain analysis shared on social media by Bubblemaps, a crypto analytics platform, showed accounts linked to Yu moving up to $1.4 million in cryptocurrency after his supposed death. His obituary lauding him as a “visionary” has disappeared, and several accounts have since accused him of orchestrating a “pseudocide exit strategy” to cash out his holdings.

SPEAK TO A HUMAN, PLEASE. After announcing boldly that they would become an “AI-first” company, the buy-now-pay-later tech firm Klarna is pivoting back to recruiting human workers so that customers can always have a human to talk to. This isn’t the first company to change their tune around AI. McDonald’s tried an AI-driven system for its drive-thrus for three years before ending the initiative, with the system making mistakes like trying to add bacon to an ice cream order and giving one customer an order of 260 Chicken McNuggets.

YOUR CHATGPT QUERY SPONSORED BY A WATER JUG. A Bloomberg study found that two-thirds of new data centers built or in development since 2022 are in places grappling with high-water stress in places like Arizona, Texas, California, and Virginia.

CHAIN-SMOKING CONTENT MODERATORS. The people tasked with viewing beheadings and other graphic content on behalf of social platforms are experiencing insomnia, psychological numbness, and a desire to take up chain-smoking. Many content moderators are based in Africa, and while various legal and organizing efforts are in motion to help them, more protections around healthcare and salary for these subcontracted workers are needed.

IP LAW UNDER FIRE: After releasing a more than 100-page report on artificial intelligence that raised concerns about using copyrighted materials to train AI systems, the Trump administration fired the head of the U.S. Copyright Office Shira Perlmutter. This comes after Elon Musk, who owns artificial intelligence firm xAI, wrote “I agree” last month in response to a post on X that said “delete all IP law.” Experts are concerned that lax rules on copyright will harm the exclusive rights of authors, photographers, and other creators.

MICROSOFT’S BIGGEST LAYOFFS IN TWO YEARS. Microsoft had 228,000 employees worldwide at the end of June; today Microsoft’s home state of Washington said the company was reducing headcount in the state by 1,985 people, including 1,510 in office. The cuts were not performance-related and reportedly are meant to reduce management layers, impacting 3% of its workforce.

TESLA TAKEDOWN TARGETS THE PENSION FUNDS: Lehigh County in Pennsylvania voted last week not to invest in Tesla shares. This is the first pension fund in the country to do so.