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.
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 American firms.
The findings come after 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 UK-listed or headquartered companies, 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 – falling to just four in 2025, an 85% year-on-year decline and down 92% from 2023’s total.
HSBC remained the British company most likely to post on social media about Pride throughout the period analysed – although its posts, mirroring the wider trend, fell by 94%. AstraZeneca, Shell and Unilever were least likely to post about Pride at all from 2023 to 2025.
“A tally of social media posts does not reflect the breadth of our approach,” HSBC said in a statement.
HSBC says it is ‘committed to inclusion for all our colleagues and customers’. Photograph: Chris Helgren/Reuters
Our analysis of the top 10 US companies – as of 1 December – revealed a similar trend. A total of 39 “Pride” posts could be found on the main customer-facing Facebook, Instagram and X accounts belonging to Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, Broadcom, Eli Lilly, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla in 2023. In 2024, the total fell 46% to 21 posts. In 2025, the number came in at 18, representing a 54% decline.
The most likely US brand to post about Pride was Apple. It was the only company to buck the declining trend, with its post count rising by 22% between 2023 and 2025.
The least likely companies to post about Pride included Berkshire Hathaway, Broadcom and Tesla.
Simon Blake, chief executive of LGBTQ+ rights charity Stonewall, said “in a world in which LGBT people are feeling less safe and less welcome in lots of places” it was in the best interest of companies to send “clear signals” of support. However, he added how businesses were “showing up on a day-to-day basis” was a better indicator of commitment to inclusion than social media trends.
“I absolutely want to ensure that it’s about walking the walk every single day of the year, rather than making a logo rainbow coloured during Pride month,” Blake said. “However, I do also think it’s important that we make sure we reflect flags and other things because it does send the signal.”
He added that such messaging tells LGBTQ+ people “you’re welcome here, we want you to thrive, we want you to have all of the opportunities everybody else has”.
Blake said he was optimistic about companies’ commitment to inclusion, with corporations continuing to sponsor Pride events and “a refocused energy” within company Pride networks. “I am in meetings every single week where you have very senior people being very clear that they are continuing to invest and to support LGBT inclusion in the workplace,” he said.
But speaking of the political climate, he said: “Is the environment more hostile for people? Yes. Is there a global rollback of LGBT rights which we’re seeing in all sorts of places? Yes. Is the UK immune to it? Absolutely not.”
Posts about Pride among the UK’s 10 biggest companies fell 92% from 2023 to 2025. Photograph: Alishia Abodunde/Getty Images
Paul Sesay, the founder of the Inclusive Top 50 UK Employers, National Diversity Awards and Elevate 1000, set up to link young people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds with employers, said his research indicated that if companies reduced diversity budgets, it had an outsize effect on corporate LGBTQ+ networks because their data showed they had been the most numerous and best funded.
“We hold roundtables and speak to our members all the time, and some DEI budgets have been significantly reduced in recent months,” he said.
“However lots of people in companies tell me they feel DEI needed a reset to a certain degree, to simplify it and go back to basics – that it got too politicised, rather than concentrating on what it actually means: equality for everybody within an organisation.”
Podcaster and workplace culture expert Bruce Daisley, a former vice-president of Twitter EMEA and YouTube UK, said: “Some organisations have maintained initiatives, but they’re just trying to do them in a lower-key way. All of it is in a context where Trump has created fear about organisations endorsing these things.
“For the groups who are nominally meant to be the beneficiaries of these things it could demonstrate the old adage – ‘a principle is only a principle if it costs you money’. A lot of people within the LGBTQ+ community, like the trans community, are finding it a difficult time.”
Daisley said that the visibility of “toxic replies” and “extreme rightwing” views on X, formerly Twitter, since Elon Musk bought the platform could also deter companies from being vocal on social media.
The Guardian approached all of the companies featured in the analysis for comment. Arm Holdings said “inclusion has always been at the heart of our culture and values” and that its social media presence reflected a “broad set of conversations”. Rio Tinto said diversity was “very important” to its business, and it supported staff in participating in Pride events in Brisbane, Perth, Montreal and London.
A GSK spokesperson: said: “We are committed to building an inclusive culture that values different perspectives and experiences. This includes our continuing support for Pride in the UK and in many countries where we operate through social media, partnership initiatives and at Pride events.”
A HSBC UK spokesperson said: “We are committed to inclusion for all our colleagues and customers and celebrate and support the LGBTQ+ community in many ways, including through an active Pride network, ambassador and mentoring programmes and as a signatory of Conduct for Business.”
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