Business social network LinkedIn quietly removes language protecting transgender people from hate speech from its policy
LinkedIn removes hate speech protections for transgender individuals
https://opentermsarchive.org/en/memos/linkedin-removes-transgender-hate-speech-protections/
LinkedIn quietly removed references to deadnaming and misgendering from its hateful content policy
https://www.engadget.com/social-media/linkedin-quietly-removed-references-to-deadnaming-and-misgendering-from-its-hateful-content-policy-190031953.html
The Open Terms Archive , an open-source software company, discovered that LinkedIn has removed a transgender protection from its hateful and derogatory content policy, which bans misgendering and calling transgender people by their deadnames. The removal took effect on July 28, 2025 local time.
If you check the Internet Archive's previous policy on hateful and derogatory content, you'll see that examples of hateful and derogatory content include 'misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals.'
However, at the time of writing, the latest version of the policy has removed the example of 'Misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals.'
Hateful and Derogatory Content | LinkedIn Help
When Engadget, the technology media outlet that reported on this incident, contacted LinkedIn inquiring about the policy update, a LinkedIn spokesperson said, 'Our fundamental policy regarding hateful and derogatory content remains unchanged.' LinkedIn said its policy still mentions 'gender identity' as a protected category, adding, 'Personal attacks and threats based on identity, including misgendering, violate our harassment policy and are not permitted on our platform.' However, LinkedIn did not provide details about the policy update.
GLAAD , a non-governmental organization dedicated to preventing discriminatory reporting in the media, said the move is part of a broader trend among technology platforms to relax policies designed to protect vulnerable users. A GLAAD spokesperson said, 'LinkedIn's quiet decision to remove long-standing best practice hate speech protections against transgender and non-binary people is a blatant anti-LGBTQ move that should alarm everyone. Following Meta and YouTube in early 2025, another social media company is sacrificing user safety in favor of cowardly business practices that appease anti-LGBTQ political ideologists.'
Meta changed its content moderation method in early 2025, removing provisions protecting LGBTQ users from hate speech. Meta subsequently added discriminatory and dehumanizing terms to its community policy, but its oversight committee recommended that the company remove these terms. However, at the time of writing, Meta has not complied with the oversight committee's recommendations.
YouTube also quietly updated its rules in 2025, removing references to 'gender identity' from its hate speech policy. However, YouTube has denied changing its rules, telling User Mag that it was 'part of routine copy editing on the website.'
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