Facebook now says it’s “hate speech” to deny that someone’s “gender identity” exists

On December 19, 2019, Facebook quietly updated its Community Standards on “hate speech” and prohibited “statements denying existence” based on “gender identity.” Since Facebook users can enter custom gender identities, this update means that denying the existence of a potentially unlimited number of gender identities could now result in a permanent account ban.

In its Community Standards on hate speech, Facebook says that these rules apply to “protected characteristics” which it defines as “race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, caste, sex, gender, gender identity, and serious disease or disability.”

While most of these are immutable characteristics, gender identity is not. Facebook allows users to choose from more than 50 different pre-filled gender identities which include:

1. Agender
2. Androgyne
3. Androgynous
4. Bigender
5. Cis
6. Cisgender
7. Cis Female
8. Cis Male
9. Cis Man
10. Cis Woman
11. Cisgender Female
12. Cisgender Male
13. Cisgender Man
14. Cisgender Woman
15. Female to Male
16. FTM
17. Gender Fluid
18. Gender Nonconforming
19. Gender Questioning
20. Gender Variant
21. Genderqueer
22. Intersex
23. Male to Female
24. MTF
25. Neither
26. Neutrois
27. Non-binary
28. Other
29. Pangender
30. Trans
31. Trans*
32. Trans Female
33. Trans* Female
34. Trans Male
35. Trans* Male
36. Trans Man
37. Trans* Man
38. Trans Person
39. Trans* Person
40. Trans Woman
41. Trans* Woman
42. Transfeminine
43. Transgender
44. Transgender Female
45. Transgender Male
46. Transgender Man
47. Transgender Person
48. Transgender Woman
49. Transmasculine
50. Transsexual
51. Transsexual Female
52. Transsexual Male
53. Transsexual Man
54. Transsexual Person
55. Transsexual Woman
56. Two-Spirit

If users aren’t happy with these 50+ gender identity options, they can also enter their own and identify as anything they want.

Facebook doesn’t outline specific punishments for saying a gender identity doesn’t exist but its Community Standards say punishments can range from a warning to an outright ban:

“The consequences for violating our Community Standards vary depending on the severity of the violation and the person’s history on the platform. For instance, we may warn someone for a first violation, but if they continue to violate our policies, we may restrict their ability to post on Facebook or disable their profile. We also may notify law enforcement when we believe there is a genuine risk of physical harm or a direct threat to public safety.”

One of the main impacts of this policy is likely to be that statements in support of biological sex could get users banned from Facebook. For example, statements such as “men cannot change into women” could be perceived as denying the existence of someone’s gender identity.

People who say that biological sex is real, or joke about transgender people are increasingly being maligned by both big tech platforms and outraged users.

When comedian Ricky Gervais responded to a “trans woman” parody account with a joke, he was accused of “veiling” his transphobia in satire and journalists even contacted the Golden Globes in what appeared to be an attempt to get him deplatformed from hosting the event.

Twitter also bans users for “misgendering” transgender people with feminist journalist Meghan Murphy being banned under this policy in 2018.

While the censorship of people who say biological sex is real is one of the most likely outcomes of this Community Standards update, it could reach even further. Because Facebook allows people to choose any gender identity, people could also potentially have their account terminated for saying that dragons, unicorns, or anything else that someone writes in their gender identity box isn’t real.