Meta Drops Rules Protecting LGBTQ Community as Part of Content Moderation Overhaul

For years, social media companies made it a top priority to combat hate speech. But in recent months, they have waffled over how to tackle hateful online commentary, particularly when it is directed at L.G.B.T.Q. communities.

Meta on Tuesday said it would drop some of its rules protecting L.G.B.T.Q. people. The changes included allowing users to share “allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality.”

The social media company, which owns Facebook and Instagram, will “get rid of a bunch of restrictions on topics like immigration and gender that are just out of touch with mainstream discourse,” Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of Meta, said in a video.

The change comes amid broad political debate over transgender rights. At least 26 states have restricted gender-affirming care for minors, according to a tally by The New York Times. Tech companies have also faced years of criticism from conservatives, accusing the platforms of promoting liberal voices and stifling dissent.

The changes to Meta’s content policy follow similar ones at X, which recently rolled back rules against hate speech targeting transgender people and made the use of “cisgender” — a word used to describe people who identify with the gender they were assigned at birth — a slur.

Meta will refocus its content moderation efforts on “illegal and high-severity violations,” its new global policy chief, Joel Kaplan, said in a blog post.

“It’s not right that things can be said on TV or the floor of Congress, but not on our platforms,” Mr. Kaplan added.

Cecilia Kang contributed reporting.