Analysis Reveals Sharp Decline in Big Businesses' Public Support for Pride from 2023 to 2025
A Guardian analysis covering 20 major companies in the UK and US reveals a significant reduction in public support for Pride on their main customer-facing social media accounts between 2023 and 2025. The number of Pride-related posts fell from 52 in 2023 to 27 in 2024, and further dropped sharply to just 4 in 2025, marking a 92% decline from 2023.
Among UK brands, including Arm Holdings, AstraZeneca, GSK, British American Tobacco, HSBC, Linde, Rolls-Royce, Shell, and Unilever, HSBC posted the most about Pride during 2023–2025, while AstraZeneca, Shell, and Unilever were the least likely to post. In the US, companies such as Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, Broadcom, Eli Lilly, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla showed a fall from 39 Pride posts in 2023 to 21 in 2024 and 18 in 2025. Notably, Apple was the only US company to increase its Pride posts, up by 22%.
This downward trend follows broader developments, including 2025 US executive orders that reversed federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programmes. The Guardian links these developments to rebranding, scaling back, and scrapping some corporate fairness policies.
Simon Blake of Stonewall emphasized that while visible signals of inclusion are important, sustained commitments through day-to-day actions and ongoing investment in Pride networks and sponsorships serve as stronger indicators of companies' commitment than social media posts alone.
Several UK companies reaffirmed their dedication to inclusion in response. Arm stated that inclusion remains central to its culture; Rio Tinto highlighted its focus on diversity; GSK underlined its commitment to an inclusive culture; and HSBC UK emphasized its active Pride network, mentoring, and related programmes.
The analysis examined the main customer-facing social accounts (Facebook, Instagram, and X) of the UK’s 10 largest listed or headquartered companies and the US’s 10 largest by market capitalization as of December 2025.
