Rights group: Mideast governments target LGBTQ people online

Published February 21, 2023 5:35 AM

By KAREEM CHEHAYEB
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — A rights group says in a new report that security agencies and government officials across several countries in the Middle East and North Africa have been using social media platforms and mobile dating apps to crack down on LGBTQ people. The report by Human Rights Watch on Tuesday exposed digital methods of clamping down on the LGBTQ community, which for years has relied on online platforms for privacy to sidestep oppression and discrimination. The report documents dozens of cases of security agencies in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Tunisia extorting, harassing, publicly outing and detaining LGBTQ people based on their activities on Facebook, Instagram, and queer dating app Grindr.

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