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GLAAD's first annual gaming report is here to tell us how gay games are
“The game industry is out of step with contemporary media in terms of LGBTQ representation, and it is failing its LGBTQ customers,” according to GLAAD's first annual gaming report.
Meta asks Oversight Board if it should soften COVID-19 misinformation policies
Meta has asked the Oversight Board if it should merely downplay COVID-19 misinformation instead of removing it.
'World of Warcraft: Dragonflight' won't use gendered language in its character generator
'World of Warcraft: Dragonflight' has ditched gendered language in its character creator.
GLAAD: Social media platforms don't do enough to protect LGBTQ users
GLAAD's latest social media report condemns Facebook, Twitter and TikTok over their alleged lack of LGBTQ protections.
Nintendo Japan will offer benefits to employees in same-sex unions
Nintendo Japan will provide employees in same-sex domestic partnerships with the same benefits it offers to those in heterosexual unions, even though Japanese law does not currently recognize gay marriages.
Amazon employees call on the company to stop selling books deemed anti-trans
A group of employee disrupted a company Pride event with a demonstration.
Grindr location data was reportedly for sale for at least three years (updated)
Grindr location data was on the market for at least three years, potentially exposing users to serious privacy violations.
Tumblr will review its moderation algorithms after a porn ban-related settlement
NYC's human rights commission said the ban disproportionately affected LGBTQ+ users.
Apple will give Siri a less gendered voice option in iOS 15.4
Apple will offer Siri with a less gendered voice option when iOS 15.4 arrives.
Grindr restricts location features at the Beijing Olympic Village
Grindr has limited outside access to the Winter Olympics Village to protect the privacy and safety of athletes.
Dating app Grindr disappears from Apple's App Store in China (updated)
Grindr has abruptly left Apple's App Store in China, raising fears about a renewed government crackdown on 'illegal' content.
Hinge users can send voice messages and add audio notes to profiles
More features for LGBTQ+ users are on the way too.
The UK's Alan Turing £50 bank note is a love letter to coding
The UK has unveiled its £50 Alan Turing bank note, and it's appropriately both very secure and a nod to the computer scientist's achievements.
Netflix pledges $100 million to improve the diversity in its shows
Based on a study conducted by the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, while Netflix's shows had made progress towards inclusion, there are still improvements to be made. To do that, Netflix announced a Fund for Creative Equity that will see it invest $100 million over five years.
How it feels to survive Silicon Valley and a pandemic
It shouldn’t feel like it took a pandemic to get Twitter to boot 7,000 QAnon accounts (and crack down on 150,000 more related to the violent conspiracy group), but it does. At least Twitter is doing harm mitigation around its role in this interconnected disaster. Five months in, you’d think 145,000 American deaths would move platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to ban virus “truther” content, but nah.
Pandora introduces customizable Pride and Black Music Month stations
Online music-streaming service Pandora is introducing new stations and expanding its “Modes” feature to celebrate Pride and Black Music Month. While Modes were previously only on artist-based stations, the feature is now available on the new Qmunity and Black Music Forever genre stations.
Your online activity is now effectively a social ‘credit score’
Kaylen Ward's Twitter fundraiser for the Australian bushfire relief has ended. The Los Angeles-based model said she raised $1 million (by comparison Jeff Bezos donated $690,000). At the start of Ms. Ward's successful donation drive she had three Instagram accounts — none of which were part of the campaign.
Ads on Facebook are spreading misinformation about anti-HIV drugs
While many are focused on Facebook's unwillingness to curb false political ads, there appears to be another misinformation campaign going unchecked. The Guardian and GLAAD have noted that personal injury law firms continue to run Facebook ads making false claims about the risks of Truvada, a drug meant to reduce the likelihood of HIV transmission. Some float the specters of bone loss and kidney damage despite evidence that the risks of either are "not clinically significant," according to the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.
LGBTQ+ creators file lawsuit charging YouTube with discrimination
In a federal lawsuit filed yesterday, a group of LGBTQ+ video creators claims YouTube discriminates against their content. The group alleges that YouTube suppresses their videos, restricts their ability to monetize their channels and enforces its policies unevenly, giving more leeway to producers with large audiences. According to The Washington Post, the suit argues that YouTube deploys "unlawful content regulation, distribution, and monetization practices that stigmatize, restrict, block, demonetize, and financially harm the LGBT Plaintiffs and the greater LGBT Community."
Tinder wants to protect LGBTQ users in countries that discriminate
Tinder wants to keep its users safe in the nearly 70 countries that have discriminatory LGBTQ laws. Today, the company is launching a feature called Traveller Alert. When members of the LGBTQ community open the app in one of those countries, the alert will warn them about the potential dangers LGBTQ people face.