Instagram and Facebook recently obscured, blocked, or removed posts from two abortion pill providers. Instagram also suspended the accounts of several abortion pill providers, preventing them from appearing in searches and recommendations.
The behavior has increased over the past two weeks and was especially noticeable over the past two days, the abortion pill provider said. Content from your account, or in some cases your entire account, is no longer visible on Instagram.
Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, confirmed the suspension of accounts and blurring of posts. The company restored some accounts and posts on Thursday after The New York Times asked about the actions.
Meta has been under scrutiny since CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced sweeping changes to the company's speech policy earlier this month. Zuckerberg has vowed to loosen restrictions on online speech, raising concerns from misinformation researchers and the shift could cause a surge in hate speech and have other harmful effects.
Mehta said the relaxation of abortion-focused accounts is not related to changes in voice policy. But the timing of the incident raised questions about whether the company is actually loosening audio restrictions and was another example of challenges in content enforcement.
A Mehta spokesperson attributed some of the recent incidents involving abortion pill-related posts and accounts to rules that prohibit the sale of medicines on the platform without proper authentication. He did not say why the rule is now in effect. The company also described some incidents as “over-enforcement.”
Meta, which previously suppressed posts from abortion providers, said it was changing its audio policy in part to reduce the number of posts that were accidentally knocked down.
“We have been very clear in recent weeks that we want to allow more speech and reduce enforcement errors,” Mehta said in a statement.
Lisafem, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the Supreme Court will rule Roev in 2022. Since overturning Wade, there has been a “massive uptick in social media platforms removing content related to reproductive health care, specifically cessation drugs. It is an ongoing and growing problem and a real threat to people living in the United States.”
Aid Access, one of the largest abortion drug providers in the U.S., said several posts have been deleted on its Facebook account and blurred on its Instagram account since November. The abortion pill service has been blocked from accessing its Facebook account since November, and its Instagram account was suspended last week, but has since been restored.
The Instagram accounts of other abortion pill providers, including Women Helping Women and just pills, were also recently suspended. The provider said the reason Meta gave them for the suspension was that their account “does not follow our community standards regarding guns, drugs, and other restricted items.” Both accounts were restored on Thursday.
Rebecca Davis, head of marketing at Hey Jane, said Instagram Jane's Instagram account for another abortion pill provider wasn't visible in recent Instagram searches. Something similar happened until the meta reversed it in 2023, she said.
“We know firsthand that this suppression actively prevents HeyJane from reaching people who are seeking timely health care information,” Davis said. “Given Meta's recent promises regarding free speech, we are extremely disappointed to see how the platform is restricting our free speech.”
The Food and Drug Administration allows telehealth providers to prescribe online and mail prescription drugs that cause abortion, mifepristone, and misoprostol. Twelve states have banned abortions, and many more have placed pregnancy limits or restrictions on mail-order pills. But providers in states where abortion is legal are mailing the pills to states where it's prohibited under bans meant to protect them.
sheila frenkel Contributed report.
