The Trevor Project leaves X due to increased anti-LGBTQ 'hate & vitriol' on the platform
LGBTQ youth suicide prevention platform The Trevor Project joins other LGBTQ celebrities and nonprofit organizations in an exodus from X, formerly known as Twitter.
The Trevor Project, the largest LGBTQ youth suicide prevention nonprofit in the US, announced its departure from X, formerly known as Twitter, because of "increasing hate & vitriol on the platform targeting the LGBTQ community."
In a statement released on November 9, The Trevor Project encouraged community members to follow them on other social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and their own social networking site TrevorSpace.org.
The context: Tech billionaire and X owner Elon Musk has shown and amplified anti-LGBTQ and anti-trans content on the platform.
- A year after Musk purchased the majority of Twitter in October 2022 for $44 billion, LGBTQ app users say the platform has become 'toxic,' in a recent report by NBC News.
- Since October 22, Musk has mocked pronoun usage, smeared a gay former Twitter employee with a false claim of that employee supporting child abuse, removed moderation policies from X that allowed transgender people to get misgendered or deadnamed, and allowed PragerU to buy a timeline takeover to promote an anti-trans film.
- According to internal documents acquired by the New York Times, X recently valued itself at $19 billion — a 55% drop from what Musk paid for the company last year.
The bigger picture: Due to the lack of protection, other LGBTQ users, celebrities, and organizations have left the platform.
- GLAAD created an annual Social Media Safety Index that measures the safety of each platform for LGBTQ users. This year, X was given a score of 33% — down from last year's score of 45%. X was given the lowest score among Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube — platforms whose scores increased from last year.
- NBC News reports that LGBTQ celebrities like Elton John announced that he was leaving in December. Ellen Degeneres, who has 75 million followers, hasn't tweeted since April.
- Other nonprofits like the San Francisco LGBT Center, LGBTQ Youth Scotland, and the UK-based Mermaids have also left the platform.
