Instagram and Facebook Blocked and Hid Abortion Pill Providers’ Posts
The New York Times
Some posts related to obtaining abortion pills were recently hidden on Instagram and Facebook and some accounts were suspended, before being later restored.
Instagram and Facebook have recently blurred, blocked or removed posts from two abortion pill providers. Instagram also suspended the accounts of several abortion pill providers and hid the providers from appearing in search and recommendations.
The actions ramped up in the last two weeks, and were especially noticeable in the last two days, abortion pill providers said. Content from their accounts — or in some cases, their entire accounts — were no longer visible on Instagram.
Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, confirmed some account suspensions and the blurring of posts. The company restored some of the accounts and posts on Thursday, after The New York Times asked about the actions.
Meta has been under scrutiny since Mark Zuckerberg, its chief executive, announced sweeping changes to the company’s speech policies earlier this month. Mr. Zuckerberg vowed to loosen restrictions on online speech, causing concerns among misinformation researchers and others that the shifts could cause a spike in hate speech and have other harmful effects.
Meta said the moderation of abortion-focused accounts was not related to the change in speech policies. But the timing of the incidents raised questions about whether the company was really loosening speech restrictions, and was another example of its challenges in content enforcement.
A Meta spokesman attributed some of the recent incidents involving abortion pill-related posts and accounts to rules that prohibit the sale of pharmaceutical drugs on its platforms without proper certification. The company also described some of the incidents as “over-enforcement.”
