Meta’s censoring of abortion information is nothing new

Earlier this week, several posts on the Instagram page of Aid Access, a company that provides abortion pills, were unable to be accessed by the public. Some of the images were blurry, with no option to click on them and view the post. Others simply appeared as a gray box with nondescript alt text, as if the image had not loaded.

Aid arrives Connects patients with doctors who provide abortion pills via telehealth appointments, and Blocked posts See included instructions for performing abortions at home using the pill. Issues on Instagram – First reported by Jessica Valenti – also It is said Make it difficult to find an Aid Access account using the app’s search function.

By Thursday evening, he was dead has been restored A few Aid Access posts, although some appear to still be missing. This latest incident is just another example of how Meta has been restricting abortion information online for years. It also comes in the middle Right meta axisas the company began allowing more transphobic, racist, and other hateful content on its platforms while courting Donald Trump.

Medical abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy can be performed safely at home. According to the World Health Organization. Licensed providers, such as those working with Aid Access, have prescribed abortion pills to hundreds of thousands of patients. Thanks to shelter-in-place laws, which protect health care workers who provide the procedure, patients in states where abortion is prohibited or restricted can also request abortion medications.

Social media is an important place for patients to get information about abortions, says Rebecca Davis of Harvard University Hi Janewhich offers virtual reproductive care such as abortions and birth control.

“[Patients] “We often turn to social media to ensure our legitimacy,” says Davis, who leads the company’s marketing. “We spent a lot of time and energy really building our social presence, so we’re verified on Instagram, we’re verified on TikTok.”

Hey Jane has faced restrictions on Instagram in recent days as well. Davis says the group received messages that it wasn’t easy to access her Instagram profile through the app’s search features. Edge Managed to replicate the issue: Typing in “heyjane” or “hey jane” did not display the account as suggested. Users will need to know the full account ID, @heyjanehealth, for it to appear as a suggestion.

“We know that by not showing up in these searches, we are directly impacting people who are actively seeking essential health care in a very timely manner by getting the information they need to make decisions,” Davis said. Edge.

Meta spokesperson Erin Logan said Edge in an email that abortion rights groups face “a variety of issues — some due to under-implementation, as well as over-enforcement.” Logan said the company prohibits the sale of pharmaceutical drugs on Meta platforms Without LegitScript certificate. (Hey Jane is among the providers approved with LegitScript.) Logan said these incidents were not a result of recent Meta policy updates.

“We’ve been very clear in recent weeks that we want to allow more expression and reduce implementation errors — and we’re committed to doing that,” Logan added, though without providing any details. Regarding the problems you’ve had, Jane, Logan’s face Edge To dead Policieswhich states that content promoting the use of pharmaceutical drugs is permitted on the platform but may not qualify for a recommendation.

In recent weeks, Meta has done just that It backed down from its policies What users can and cannot say on its platforms, opening the door to more hate speech and offensive content Under the guise of “freedom of expression.” But providers have long had information about abortion restricted or deleted, according to groups like Amnesty International and Uncensored reproduction. Hey Jane’s Davis says this isn’t the first time the group’s Instagram profile has been invisible in search: something similar happened in 2023, when fake Hey Jane accounts showed up in search instead.

Although abortion access groups have run into issues on meta platforms, Davis says it’s not as simple as moving to another social media site. Many patients use Instagram and other platforms like TikTok to find urgent information.

“While this moment certainly signals the importance of diversifying the platforms we are on, it does not necessarily mean that people seeking abortion care will turn away from these platforms,” Davis says.