Observer The Kilkenny Trans abused online

As the row over the governing body of Catholic-run schools’ stance on teaching about transgender issues continues, a survey by the national organisation Belong To also found that 87% OF LGBTQ+ young people have seen or experienced anti-LGBTQ+ hate and harassment on social media in the past year. e survey of 1,200 young LGBTQ+ people also found that only 21% of LGBTQ+ youth who reported abusive or harmful content online saw action from a social media platform. e remaining 79% of LGBTQ+ young people were either informed that no violation of community guidelines was found, or received no re- sponse from the platform.

In cases where social media companies took action against the content, it was removed in 12% of cases, 4% saw the o ending user temporarily suspended, and 5% of reports resulted in the o ending account being banned.

Speaking at the launch of Belong To’s ‘It’s Our Social Media’ campaign, the organisation’s CEO Moninne Gri th said that social media companies needed to do more to protect LGBTQ+ people from harassment.

“We have witnessed a dramatic increase in the rate of hateful, discriminatory antiLGBTQ+ content shared on social media platforms, and the direct targeting and harassment of members of the