<
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/08/01/linkedin-joins-the-parade-of-cowards-quietly-strips-anti-trans-protections-to-appease-maga-mob/>
"Microsoft-owned LinkedIn has quietly joined the parade of tech giants rolling
back basic protections for transgender users, removing explicit prohibitions
against deadnaming and misgendering from its hate speech policies this week.
The change, first spotted by the nonprofit Open Terms Archive, eliminates
language that previously listed “misgendering or deadnaming of transgender
individuals” as examples of prohibited hateful content.
LinkedIn removed transgender-related protections from its policy on hateful
and derogatory content. The platform no longer lists “misgendering or
deadnaming of transgender individuals” as examples of prohibited conduct.
While “content that attacks, denigrates, intimidates, dehumanizes, incites
or threatens hatred, violence, prejudicial or discriminatory action” is
still considered hateful, addressing a person by a gender and name they ask
not be designated by is not anymore.
Similarly, the platform removed “race or gender identity” from its examples
of inherent traits for which negative comments are considered harassment.
That qualification of harassment is now kept only for behaviour that is
actively “disparaging another member’s […] perceived gender”, not mentioning
race or gender identity anymore.
The move is particularly cowardly because LinkedIn made the change with zero
public announcement or explanation. When pressed by a reporter at
The
Advocate, the company offered the classic corporate non-answer: “We regularly
update our policies” and insisted that “personal attacks or intimidation toward
anyone based on their identity, including misgendering, violates our harassment
policy.”
But here’s the thing: if your policies haven’t actually changed, why remove the
explicit protections? Why make it harder for users and moderators to understand
what’s prohibited? The answer is as obvious as it is pathetic: LinkedIn is
preemptively capitulating to political pressure in this era of MAGA culture
war."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
