Big firms roll back their public support for Pride

The UK's biggest businesses are rolling back their public support for Pride celebrations, Guardian analysis suggests, prompting warnings that "clear signals" are needed in the face of growing global LGBTQ+ hostility.

- Chris Osuh Raphael Boyd Geneva Abdul

Analysis of social media posts by the country's biggest companies found mentions of Pride had plummeted by 92% since 2023, mirroring a trend seen in large US firms.

The US president, Donald Trump, signed a series of executive orders in 2025 that overturned federal government diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes, leading companies on both sides of the Atlantic to rebrand, scale back and even scrap fairness policies.

The Guardian analysed the main customer-facing social media accounts of the 10 biggest companies listed or headquartered in the UK, and the 10 biggest US companies by market capitalisation.

Among the British brands were the technology company Arm Holdings, the pharmaceutical firms AstraZeneca and GSK, the nicotine products company British American Tobacco, HSBC bank, the chemicals company Linde, the defence and engineering company Rolls-Royce, the oil company Shell and the food conglomerate Unilever.

In 2023, a total of 52 posts made on their Facebook, Instagram and X accounts contained the word or hashtag “Pride” - in connection with Pride events, Pride months, weeks and weekends, and employee LGBTQ+ networks.

By 2024 the number of posts had dropped by 48% to 27, and in 2025 they fell to just four, an 85% year-on-year decline and down 92% from 2023's total.