For over a decade, Social media has been a significant part of my professional life. Working as a social media consultant and manager with LGBTQ+ businesses as clients, I’m well versed in the highs and lows and unpredictable nature of human behaviours across various platforms.
Not much shocks me now; I guess I’ve become battle-hardened, but, importantly, not utterly despondent as some of social media has begun to resemble a vile, pungent, overflowing gutter.
When Elon Musk bought Twitter for an incomprehensible $44billion in 2022, it’s safe to say that the popular social media platform made a profound slide to the dark side which continues apace to this day.
From the outset of Musk’s takeover, his philosophy has been “free speech” for all — he describes himself as a “free speech absolutist” and proudly states that he wants Twitter to be a “digital town hall”. In theory, this is an admirable standpoint, but is this blanket free speech policy antithetical to protecting users from hate speech? Murky waters indeed!
Understandably a great deal of LGBTQ+ people were alarmed and rightly interpreted the policy change as leaving them vulnerable to hateful abuse.
Additionally, Musk reinstated the accounts of controversial hate figures like Andrew Tate, Graham Linehan, Katie Hopkins, Tommy Robison and so on. Obviously this changed the whole vibe of Twitter. Users are now emboldened to be viscerally hateful, given the return of these characters and Musk’s regular amplification of their extremist views.
Then, likes were made private, and the block function was altered so that blocked accounts could still see what was being posted by accounts that have blocked them, but not comment directly — this led many to sorely question their safety on the platform.
Droves of LGBTQ+ people had fled Twitter before we even got to Musk’s endorsement of Donald Trump for US president in 2024 and later, his appointment as head of the newly created and aptly named DOGE (Department of Government Efficency).
Musk aligning so closely with Trump — who vowed to restrict restrict gender care for young people, recognise male and female as the only two sexes (which is spuriously framed as protecting women from “gender ideology extremism”), plus banning trans women from women’s sport — was a stark and for many, defining indicator, to LGBTQ+ people that Musk was evidently much more of a foe than a friend.
Perhaps Facebook, Instagram and threads are good, safe alternatives? Sadly, it seems not because all three platforms come under the umbrella of Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta. When Trump became President, Meta revised its hate speech guidelines.
Meta’s guidelines now state: “We do allow allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality and common non-serious usage of words like ‘weird’.”
Hate levelled at a person or group based on their protected class is now permissible across Meta — as is referring to a transgender or non-binary person as “it”.
Meta has also replaced its third-party fact-checkers with a system similar to “community notes” on Twitter.
Zuckerberg said the changes were implemented as a result of “recent elections” and “a cultural tipping point towards, once again, prioritising speech”.
So where does this all leave LGBTQ+ people whose protections suddenly became inconsequential overnight to social media companies so that their billionaire owners could curry favour with a new erratic and vengeful US president?
Better to be inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in. The sight of Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos all stood in a row at Trump’s inauguration speaks for itself. It’s all about self-preservation and in my opinion, the LGBTQ+ allyship of recent years was nothing more than a cynical ploy at tapping into what these companies perceived to be the zeitgeist, not because they care about LGBTQ+ people at all.
With all said and done, here in 2025, is any social media space currently, exhaustively safe for LGBTQ+ people? Yes. There’s one. Step forward, Bluesky.
Bluesky was launched as an independent company by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in 2022, the year after he left Twitter, and now boasts 32 million registered users, compared to just 9 million users in September 2023. Bluesky has benefitted best from the exodus of users from Twitter primarily, and subsequently Meta’s platforms.
CEO of Bluesky, Jay Graber, has described the microblogging platform as a “better social ecosystem for people”, while others have said it serves a “safe haven” for those leaving Twitter.
In the two weeks that followed the 2024 US election alone, 5 million people left Twitter for Bluesky.
With no ties to Musk or Zuckerberg, Bluesky is seemingly now the natural place for LGBTQ+ people to seek refuge.
Never wanting to be left out, I opened a Bluesky account in July 2023 and I was pleasantly surprised with its functionality. It’s a place where my friends who left Twitter are, and I like that I’m still connected with them in some capacity, even if the platform itself can be a tad twee at times.
I now dip in to Bluesky most days and find that during turbulent times on Twitter, it serves as a safe space where I can genuinely articulate my views and frustrations without being called “grommer” by radicalised creeps on Twitter.
My Twitter account remains active because it’s important for my work and there’s still much more social and political commentary there which draws me in. Also, I won’t be bullied off a platform by anyone. I’m sure it annoys some anti-LGBTQ+ folk that I remain there because it’s akin to saying a big fat “fuck you”; though I empathise with those who chose to leave. I’m privileged in that I have built up a large following and am able to fight back with support. It’s not as easy for others.
Ultimately, there’s no doubt in my mind, with my vast experience in social media, that Bluesky is the sole truly safe platform currently for LGBTQ+ people. So if you’re feeling vulnerable on any of the others, I’d strongly suggest setting up an account on Bluesky… and find me there because I love connecting with likeminded folk!
QX has also made the leap to Bluesky…
