People aren't happy with how Facebook is celebrating Pride

And for good reason...

Pride festival is upon us, with the global celebration running from Saturday 24th June to Sunday 7th July. The next two weeks will see a run of events celebrating the LGBTQ community, with everything from live music and historic tours to art exhibitions and film screenings, with the famous parade taking place on 8th July.

This year, apps and businesses are also getting involved with Facebook even creating a temporary feature on its site to celebrate the festival and promote equality.

We all know about Facebook reactions, allowing us to react in detail to separate posts, by selecting anything from a thumbs up or a love heart to a shocked or a crying face.

In honour of Pride, Facebook has created another one, a temporary reaction symbol for the duration of Pride month – a rainbow flag to promote equality.

While the social network has been praised for standing behind Pride, there is a big catch that is getting even more attention, and people aren’t very happy about it.

The rainbow flag Pride symbol is not extended to all countries, with people from countries with anti-LGBTQ laws reporting that they were unable to download it, with users in Egypt, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Mexico, Jordan and Pakistan among others unable to access the button.

‘You may see a colorful, limited-edition Pride Reaction during Pride Month,’ announced Alex Schultz, the Vice President of Facebook. ‘When you choose this temporary rainbow reaction, you’ll be expressing your “Pride” to the post. People in major markets with Pride celebrations will be able to use a temporary rainbow reaction during Pride month.’

He then confirmed the rumours, continuing: ‘However, because this is a new experience we’ve been testing, the rainbow reaction will not be available everywhere.’

Hmmm…excluding certain people from taking part doesn’t really spread the message of equality.