Instagram reinstates Gays Against Groomers after banning its anti-LGBTQ+ content

Instagram has reinstated the account of controversial anti-trans organisation Gays Against Groomers after the group claimed it was suspended due to media pressure. 

The group, which has been repeatedly criticised for using the anti-LGBTQ+ “groomer” slur, claimed on Wednesday (25 October) that its Instagram account had been suspended after GLAAD and Media Matters had urged the Meta platform to do so.

Media Matters published a report in September urging Meta to crack down on Gays Against Groomers, claiming the group pushes “false narratives about LGBTQ people on its platforms”.

Gays Against Groomers said on Twitter on Wednesday: “Instagram has just SUSPENDED our account with 360,000 followers.”

“This comes just weeks after GLAAD and Media Matters’ pressure campaign calling on them to do so. Instagram gave us no reason and we had no content violations,” the group claimed. 

The account has now been reinstated, with the group claiming it will “never be silenced” and that it plans to take legal action “against those who have continuously defamed us with malicious lies”. 

LGBTQ+ charity GLAAD said in a statement on Gays Against Groomers’ suspension: “All social media companies should enforce their own policies.

“All of the platforms have policies which clearly prohibit anti-LGBTQ hate content, and such policies exist for a reason.

“The anti-LGBTQ ‘groomer’ trope, and similar baseless and dangerous rhetoric falsely asserting that LGBTQ people are threats to children, is dangerous hate speech which has been popularized to foment fear and hatred, and ultimately violence, against LGBTQ people and the LGBTQ community… This is in direct violation of the hate speech policies of all major social media platforms and it is causing real-world harm.”

Meta bans hate against a person’s sexual orientation as part of its policies on hate speech, and has previously told PinkNews that it wants to “make sure our platforms are a safe and inclusive space for the LGBTQIA+ community”. 

PinkNews has contacted Meta for comment, but it has not responded.

In early October, a local Gays Against Groomers chapter was issued with a restraining order after a Wisconsin school district accused the group of harassment.

A group member had reportedly attempted to track down a specific staff member, whom he alleged had been “encouraging his students to visit his sexually explicit [Instagram] and TikTok pages.”

• Nov 29 2023

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