Contact:
Rachel Franz, Fairplay: [email protected]
David Monahan, Fairplay: [email protected]
New research underscores increased risks of manipulative digital design for LGBTQIA+ youth
Report from advocacy group Fairplay shows LGBTQIA+ youth are more likely to be recommended harmful content than cisgender heterosexual youth
BOSTON – WEDNESDAY, June 21, 2023 – New research has revealed serious harms facing LGBTQIA+ youth online as a result of manipulative social media platform design, including compulsive use and increased exposure to pro-eating disorder content, drug content, and more. Unfair Impacts, a new report from Fairplay, documents how LGBTQIA+ youth experience a disproportionate amount of risk on the internet as compared to their straight cisgender peers.
Amidst the rising tide of intolerance and bigotry facing the LGBTQIA+ community in the United States, online spaces present a place of refuge for queer youth. Yet, as Unfair Impacts shows, tech platforms’ risky design practices expose LGBTQIA+ youth to more harmful content and result in more surveillance. Some disparities in the report include:
- 18% of young people who identified as LGBTQIA+ were recommended content about drugs or drug sales every time they went on social media or several times a day, compared to 12% of young people who did not identify as LGBTQIA+.
- 24% of young people who identified as LGBTQIA+ were recommended dieting or pro-eating disorder content every time they went on social media or several times a day, compared to 18% of young people who did not identify as LGBTQIA+.
- 55% of LGBTQIA+ young people reported scrolling for too long every time they went on social media or several times a day, compared to 49% of those who did not identify as LGBTQIA+.
“The digital ecosystem children and young people live in is built by people, but it is built in ways that can produce different experiences for different young people,” said Rys Farthing, PhD, report co-author and privacy expert. “These differences can be risky or harmful, and can lead to unequal outcomes for youth. This research captures some of these differences in experience and outcome, highlighting some of the subtle and nuanced ways young people who identify as LGBTQIA+ may experience the digital world that would exacerbate inequalities.”
The report comes after the CDC released data in February showing LGBTQIA+ youth were experiencing worryingly high levels of sadness, and after the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory in May on the “profound risk of harm” for young people using social media. The Surgeon General’s report documented how LGBTQIA+ youth disproportionately experience cyberbullying and online harassment and abuse, which is linked to anxiety and depression. In recent years, tech companies have increasingly come under fire for their role in the youth mental health crisis.
“Queer young people are under threat, but the solace and joy we find in online community shines a bright light onto a vision of safety and happiness,” said Arielle Geismar, digital wellness advocate and member of the Design It For Us coalition. “This report underlines our advocacy sentiments: our community is not up for sale to the highest bidder from Big Tech. Our queer spaces are our home and it’s up to all of us to make them safer.”
The report concludes by advocating for the passage of the Kids Online Safety Act (S.1409) and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (S.1418), two recently reintroduced bills that would offer greater protections for youth online. Taken together, the bills would address the features and functions that exacerbate online harms for youth, including content recommendation systems, targeted advertising, and the mass data collections that make both possible.
“LGBTQIA+ kids are going online looking for support and validation and they’re finding things like addiction and online harassment. They need the internet, but not the internet that unregulated social media is giving them,” said David Jay, Founder and Board Chair of the Asexual Visibility and Education Network. “Federal legislation like KOSA and COPPA 2.0 are steps in the right direction, supporting LGBTQIA+ young people by protecting their privacy and holding tech companies accountable for causing harm.”
“LGBTQIA+ youth are experiencing disproportionate negative effects from deliberate design decisions made by tech companies who profit off of their vulnerabilities,” said Rachel Franz, report co-author and Education Manager at Fairplay. “Social media companies will not make their platforms safe for queer kids and teens of their own volition; we need privacy and safety-by-design legislation now in order to make sure that LGBTQIA+ youth are protected. Inaction means that all children would continue to be harmed – especially kids and teens who identify as LGBTQIA+.”
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