Meta’s new policies have allowed a 79% drop in the removal of hateful content across the company’s platforms, which include Facebook, Instagram and Threads. The changes included: modifying the Hateful Conduct policy to allow anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric; removing protections for LGBTQ+ people; utilising anti-LGBTQ+ terminology in its Community Standards; and deleting trans and non-binary themes on Messenger. At the time, LGBTQ+ media advocacy group GLAAD denounced the move.

In a hearing called by the Australian Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, Meta’s Director of Content Policy, Benjamin Good, explained that the changes made in January 2025 were meant to allow users to debate topics including immigration, gender and sexuality. However, according to Meta talking points examined by the Royal Commission, the media giant is still supposed to limit and take down hateful content that could lead to offline harm.

Posts regarding people’s race, religion or ethnicity are limited as they are protected classes. But under the same document, statements such as “trans people don’t exist”, “gay people are sinners”, and “immigrants are criminals” are allowed. 

Good described the policy shift as “reactive” rather than “proactive”, meaning that Meta will do less scanning of posts and rely more on user reports of misconduct. 

Prior to Dublin Pride, Fianna Fáil TD Malcolm Byrne expressed “deep concern” for the rising hate speech towards the LGBTQ+ community on Facebook. He said that in the last year since the policy changes were implemented, each time he has reported hate speech, Facebook upheld the statements and refused to take the posts down. 

Changes to the platform’s fact-checking systems were also made at the same time, shifting Meta platforms from an outside fact-checking partner to a “community” based system similar to the system X uses, allowing users to vote on a post’s accuracy.

These changes took place less than two weeks before United States President Donald Trump took office for the second time, with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg citing “recent elections” and “a cultural tipping point towards, once again, prioritizing speech” as reasons for the updates. The company also threw out its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies, which have been targeted by Trump since taking office.

The Australian Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion was called after the Bondi Beach terrorist attack on December 14, where 15 people were killed by two gunmen at a Hanukkah celebration. The hearing on July 6 called Good as a witness to investigate the impact of online hate on offline hate speech and terrorism. While the Commission’s focus is antisemitism, they noted that changes in LGBTQ+ hate speech policies have impacted other marginalised groups as well.