During Pride month, rainbows take over company branding, websites, and social media. Facebook joined the celebration by offering a rainbow reaction, colourful text backgrounds, and a rainbow profile picture frame. However, not everyone has access to Facebook's Pride reaction.
Mashable first reported that countries with discriminatory anti-LGBTQ laws, such as Singapore, Malaysia, and Egypt, don't have the additional reaction option.
In its blog post on the subject, Facebook said it was making the temporary rainbow reaction available to people in "major markets with Pride celebrations," noting that it wouldn't be in every country because it's a new experience the company is still testing.
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In order to access the Pride feature in places where it is available, users have to like Facebook's LGBTQ community page, drawing even more criticism. While the site has required people to take an additional step to access certain features before, it automatically offered new reactions for holidays such as Mother's Day and Halloween.
This may seem like a minor detail, but it gives the impression that Pride month is an optional holiday that only some people are interested in, rather than signaling that everyone should care about LGBTQ rights.
The same goes for not offering the Pride reaction in countries that criminalise being queer. Singapore, Malaysia, and Egypt — where the Facebook option isn't available — all punish LGBTQ people. Theses areas don't qualify as "major markets with Pride celebrations" because LGBTQ folks don't have the same rights as everyone else.
Singapore does have an annual Pride event that normally attracts around 30,000 people, but the government prohibited foreigners from attending or sponsoring it this year. A Pride event scheduled at a university in Malaysia's capital was canceled after receiving backlash from religious groups.
If Facebook really wants to celebrate Pride, it should do so across the globe. People in countries without LGBTQ protections need the world's support.
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