Instagram and Facebook recently blurred, blocked, or deleted posts from two abortion pill providers. Instagram also suspended the accounts of several abortion pill providers, removing them from searches and recommendations.
Abortion pill providers say these measures have increased over the past two weeks, especially in the past two days. The content of their accounts, and in some cases their entire accounts, is no longer visible on Instagram.
Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, acknowledged suspending some accounts and blurring posts. The company restored some accounts and posts on Thursday after The New York Times asked about the move.
Meta has been under intense scrutiny since CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced major changes to the company's speech policy earlier this month. Mr. Zuckerberg has vowed to ease restrictions on online speech, raising concerns among misinformation researchers that the changes could lead to a surge in hate speech and other harmful effects. There is.
Mehta said the moderation of abortion-focused accounts is not related to changes in speech policy. But the timing of the incident raises questions about whether the company is really loosening its speech restrictions, and is yet another example of the company's challenges regulating content.
A Mehta spokesperson said some of the recent incidents involving abortion pill-related posts and accounts stem from rules that prohibit selling medicines on the platform without proper authentication. The company also described some incidents as “over-enforcement.”
Meta, which had previously suppressed posts from abortion providers, said it was changing its speech policy in part to reduce the number of posts that were accidentally deleted.
“We have been clear in recent weeks that we want to allow more speech and reduce enforcement errors,” Mehta said in a statement.
Lisa Femia, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said that since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in 2022, there has been a “significant increase in social media platforms removing content related to reproductive health, particularly abortion pills.” It's increasing,” he said. This is an ongoing and growing problem that poses a real threat to people who receive important medical information and guidance online. ”
Aid Access, one of the largest abortion pill providers in the United States, has had some posts deleted on its Facebook account and blurred on its Instagram account since November, with more posted in recent days. He said it was blurred. The abortion pill service said it had been blocked from accessing its Facebook account since November and that its Instagram account had been suspended last week, but has since been restored.
Other abortion pill providers' Instagram accounts, including Women Help Women and Just the Pill, have also been suspended in recent days. The providers said Meta cited the account's “failure to adhere to community standards regarding guns, drugs, and other restricted products” as the reason for the suspension. Both accounts were restored on Thursday.
The Instagram account of Hey Jane, another abortion pill company, recently stopped showing up in Instagram searches, said Rebecca Davis, head of marketing at Hey Jane. Something similar happened in 2023, she said, until the meta reversed.
“We know first-hand that this suppression actively prevents Hey Jane from reaching those seeking timely medical information,” Ms. Davis said. “Given Meta's recent promises regarding free speech, we are deeply disappointed to see how this platform is restricting our freedom of speech.”
The Food and Drug Administration allows telehealth providers to prescribe the abortion-causing prescription drugs mifepristone and misoprostol online and deliver them by mail. Twelve states have banned abortions, and many more have placed restrictions on pregnancy control and mail-order sales of pills. But providers in states where abortion is legal are mailing the pills to states where abortion shield laws prohibit it.
Sheera Frenkel contributed reporting.
