Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, dropped some LGBTQ protections from its hate speech rules Tuesday amid a wider overhaul of the social media giant’s content moderation practices. Under its newly updated policies on hateful conduct,

Meta will allow its billions of social media users to accuse people of being mentally ill based on their sexuality or gender identity.

The changes included allowing users to share “allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation.”

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, has revised its hate speech guidelines to allow users to describe LGBTQ people as mentally ill. The change was announced in new guidelines released Tuesday by the media outfit.

Billions of social media users will be permitted to describe LGBTQ people as “mentally ill” and women as “property” under sweeping changes to Meta’s hateful conduct policy.

WASHINGTON - The tech giant Meta, the parent of Facebook and Instagram, has rolled back restrictions around topics such as gender and sexual identity, a sweeping move that advocacy groups fear will fuel hate speech.

The revised policy maintains bans on insults targeting intellect or mental health but introduces an exception for allegations tied to sexual orientation or gender identity. These allowances reflect the political and religious discourse around LGBTQ+ issues and the casual use of terms like “weird.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the changes in a Facebook video on Tuesday, in which he confirmed that sweeping policy changes would soon be implemented “globally.” Zuckerb