Transgender and nonbinary social media users often experience trans exclusion and erasure online, impacting their livelihoods and ability to freely post and create community on social media platforms. 

In 2022, the Oversight Board, which oversees Meta platforms’ content moderation decisions, invited public feedback on Instagram’s removal of two trans users’ posts featuring them without shirts. The open comment period provided a unique opportunity to hear trans users’ feedback on how nudity and sexual activity policies impacted them. 

In a new paper, University of Michigan School of Information incoming PhD student Samuel Mayworm and assistant professor Oliver Haimson analyzed the comments and discussed ways platforms could revise their Adult Nudity and Sexual Activity Policy language to better include trans users. Additionally, they recommended that platforms work directly with trans policy experts to guide policy language revisions and potentially to rethink policies entirely. 

Their paper, “Misgendered During Moderation: How Transgender Bodies Make Visible Cisnormative Content Moderation Policies and Enforcement in a Meta Oversight Board Case” was published in the FAccT ‘24: Proceedings of the 2024 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability and Transparency. 

Their paper contributes to a growing body of research on digital inclusion and content moderation technologies that center trans people. 

“Transness should not inhibit your right to express yourself and present yourself on social media,” Mayworm says. “Trans people have community-specific needs for self-expression, both related to their offline marginalization and their unique experiences as transgender people. They may also need a space where they can safely navigate gender presentation, meet others like themselves and fundraise for trans-related issues.” 

Mayworm is advised by Haimson, who has long conducted research on social media and LGBTQ+ experiences online. His previous papers, co-authored by Mayworm and UMSI PhD student Hibby Thach, have explored shadowbans and trans-centered moderation practices. 

“A lot of people, depending on where they’re living, may not have community in person,” Haimson says. “That makes it even more important for people to have these online community spaces to find others, make community and learn about potential surgeries or medical interventions they may want in the future. 

“When this content is censored, it becomes especially harmful because it takes away vital connections and online representations of people.” 

“Misgendered During Moderation: How Transgender Bodies Make Visible Cisnormative Content Moderation Policies and Enforcement in a Meta Oversight Board Case” is authored by Samuel Mayworm, Kendra Albert (Harvard University) and Oliver Haimson. 

Related

Read more research by Samuel Mayworm and Oliver Haimson by visiting their UMSI profiles. 

Learn more about UMSI’s PhD in Information program and apply today. 

— Noor Hindi, UMSI public relations specialist