In the News: Transgender and Nonbinary Social Media Users Experience Disproportionate Content Removals on Social Media
Interviewed for a University of Michigan School of Information news article on Misgendered During Moderation: How Transgender Bodies Make Visible Cisnormative Content Moderation Policies and Enforcement in a Meta Oversight Board Case, co-authored by Kendra Albert (Clinical Instructor at the Harvard Law School Cyberlaw Clinic) and Oliver L. Haimson (Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan School of Information).
Misgendered During Moderation Abstract:
âTransgender and nonbinary social media users experience disproportionate content removals on social media platforms, even when content does not violate platformsâ guidelines. In 2022, the Oversight Board, which oversees Meta platformsâ content moderation decisions, invited public feedback on Instagramâs removal of two trans usersâ posts featuring their bare chests, introducing a unique opportunity to hear trans usersâ feedback on how nudity and sexual activity policies impacted them. We conducted a qualitative analysis of 83 comments made public during the Oversight Boardâs public comment process. Commenters criticized Metaâs nudity policies as enforcing a cisnormative view of gender while making it unclear how images of trans usersâ bodies are moderated, enabling the disproportionate removal of trans content and limiting trans usersâ ability to use Metaâs platforms. Yet there was significant divergence among commenters about how to address cisnormative moderation. Some commenters suggested that Meta clarify nudity guidelines, while others suggested that Meta overhaul them entirely, removing gendered distinctions or fundamentally reconfiguring the platformâs relationship to sexual content. We then discuss how the Oversight Boardâs public comment process demonstrates the value of incorporating trans peopleâs feedback while developing policies related to gender and nudity, while arguing that Meta must go beyond only revising policy language by reevaluating how cisnormative values are encoded in all aspects of its content moderation systems.â