GLAAD Social Media Safety Index 2026 Finds X Is the Least Safe Platform for LGBTQ+ Users

X Scored 29 Out of 100 for LGBTQ+ Safety. Every Other Platform Got Worse This Year Too.

GLAAD's annual Social Media Safety Index ranked six major platforms on how well they protect LGBTQ+ users. The results make for uncomfortable reading across the board.

X came last. That is not a surprise. What is harder to absorb is that almost every other platform got worse this year too.

GLAAD's Social Media Safety Index, published on 7 May 2026 and now in its sixth year, assessed TikTok, YouTube, X, Facebook, Instagram and Threads against criteria covering safety policies, privacy protections, content moderation and corporate transparency. X scored 29 out of 100, placing it at the bottom of the table for the second consecutive year. YouTube came in just above it at 30. Meta's platforms: Facebook, Instagram and Threads, clustered in the high 30s and low 40s. TikTok scored highest at 56, though that still leaves it barely above halfway.

Scores fell across nearly every platform compared to the previous year. GLAAD said the decline reflects a pattern of companies rolling back hate speech protections, reducing transparency around moderation decisions and scaling back diversity and inclusion programmes. The report described the current landscape as rife with anti-LGBTQ+ hate, harassment and disinformation, and warned that the gap between companies' stated policies and the actual experience of queer users online is growing wider.

Trans and non-binary users were identified as carrying the heaviest burden. Weakening protections in community guidelines and reduced enforcement are hitting gender non-conforming people hardest, according to the report's findings.

GLAAD has called on all six platforms to strengthen safeguards, improve transparency and reinstate protections. Whether any of them will act on that call is a different question.

The full GLAAD Social Media Safety Index 2026 is available at glaad.org.

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