Happy Pride! In this episode we talk to Jenni Olsen, Senior Director of the Social Media Safety Program at GLAAD, about their work in promoting LGBTQ safety, privacy, and expression online.

We talk about the recently released Social Media Safety Index, which evaluates social media platforms on their LGBTQ-inclusive policies. Some suggestions from their report include training moderators to understand and differentiate legitimate LGBTQ speech and content from harmful content, and creating policies against conversion therapy content and targeted misgendering and deadnaming.

Finally, we talk about the challenges of balancing free speech with protecting marginalized communities and offer suggestions for individuals working at social media platforms to advocate for change.

Further reading

GLAAD’s reports, including the Accelerating Acceptance report we discuss

Trust in Tech - let’s talk about protecting the LGBTQ+ Community Online (last year’s Pride Podcast)

Alice’s practical Guide to Protecting LGBTQ+ Users Online