What’s the perspective?
As love expands, activists claim that social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram must do more to stop it.
- Increase in anti-transgender posts follows rights improvement
- Online victimization exacerbates worries about internet safety
- Social media platforms should take tougher action, according to campaigners.
DHAKA – Transgender people in Bangladesh claim that social media platforms must do more to combat hate speech and that growing transphobia online may harm their safety and slow progress in advancing rights.
Trans Bangladeshis embraced the virtual space to connect with one another in the early weeks of websites and platforms like Facebook, according to Shaikh Md. Mominul Islam, an advocate who does not identify as a man or a woman.
However, transgender rights activists in the nation have become alarmed by an increase in anti-trans social media posts in recent months.
Islam told Context, “The online space, which had previously helped the female different people find their tone, has now turned into a vulnerable place to be.”
Trans people and transvestites, who are standard third-gender people, are still marginalized in Bangladesh despite being recognized by the state as a third sex in 2013.
They frequently reside in poverty and are denied the opportunity to get a job or attend school, leading to some having to engage in sex work or beg to survive.
LGBTQ+ activists praised the government’s decision last year to introduce new college textbooks with a portion on trans people as another sign of the country’s growing acceptance.
However, the initiative sparked outrage on social media, with one instance of a video showing a part-time college professor removing pages from the book in protest.
The government formed a committee to examine the books in response, sparking concerns among rights activists that anti-trans sentiment online could lead to real-world rollbacks.
Safe online space
The outcry has heightened transgender rights activists’ concerns for their specific health and brought back memories of the 2016 murder of transgender rights activist Xulhaz Mannan.
Ho Chi Minh Islam, the country’s first trans nurse and a human rights activist, left Bangladesh after she said her life was threatened by misogynistic activities.
She was scheduled to speak at a local university sooner in November last year, but after some comments were made on social media sites like Facebook against including a trans woman, she was later turned down for the occasion.
She has since been the subject of a rush of love and doxxing, which includes malicious online posting of personal information, as well as abuse in person, and she has criticized social media platforms for failing to do enough to remove offensive content.
She claimed that more often than not when she or her fellow Facebook users report cruel posts or videos, they are informed that the articles did not violate the group’s community standards.
The essential campaigners who are known to fight trans equality continue to use these online platforms for visibility, she said, but occasionally a few posts will be removed.
A spokeswoman for Instagram and Instagram-owned Meta Platforms stated that the company has a dedicated LGBTQ+ Safety Page with information on its procedures, resources, and how to deal with issues like bullying, harassment, and hate speech.
The spokesperson added that it looks into information and removes messages that violate hate speech guidelines.
“We will continue to take actions wherever our plans are violated,” the spokesperson added.
However, critics claim that hate speech needs to be strictly controlled.
Seuty Sabur, an archaeologist and researcher on gender concerns at Bangladesh’s BRAC University, said active protections are patchy and limited.
“When some hate speech is reported, it is possible for the platforms to see the spike and shut it down, but they often haven’t done it,” she said.
Social media companies are obligated to protect customers through more regular protection and enhancement of safety policies, according to Rasha Younes, senior researcher with Human Rights Watch’s LGBT Rights Program.
A safer modern world, according to trans entrepreneur Avaa Muskan Tithi, who sells handicraft and eco-friendly fashion products online, would not only make trans Bangladeshis safer, but it would also help them combat financial marginalization.
“I want to increase my company, and empty brick-and-mortar showrooms where I can use more people, including those from the trans community – so that they can survive with dignity,” she said.
(Reporting by Md. Tahmid Zami, Editing by Helen Popper)
