The internet is a great tool for sharing information, collaborating with others, or just having fun with friends. But it can be a scary place if you don’t align yourself with the status quo. For trans folks, things have become increasingly hard for them as the world seems to be targeting them for just existing and wanting care. Discord is hoping to help with a policy change.
Last week, the communication platform updated its hateful conduct policy. It added things that it feels doesn’t reflect its “goal to promote acceptance and inclusivity.” The new bannable acts include “deadnaming or misgendering a transgender person.” While Discord expanded the policy internally in 2022, they wanted to stay transparent and made it public.
As part of our ongoing efforts to ensure Discord remains a safe and fun place for people to hang out with friends, we continually evaluate potential harms and update our policies. We often work with organization and subject matter experts to ensure our policies accurately encompass a holistic view of how these issues manifest across the internet and society.”
Discord spokesperson speaking to TechCrunch
On top of misgendering and deadnaming, Discord also states the following as hateful behavior:
- expressing contempt or disgust towards protected groups
- perpetuating negative stereotypes about them
- repeatedly using slurs to degrade them
- threatening or promoting violence against them
- calling for their segregation and exclusion
GLAAD, an LGBT organization has commended Discord for answering its call for social networks to be more transparent when it comes their policies on deadnaming and deliberate misgendering as hate speech.
Of all the big social platforms today, TikTok is the only one that prohibits deadnaming and intentional misgendering. Twitter used to do it, but we all know how that’s going.
We all know how well that’s going…
Source: Engadget
