How Facebook Is Suddenly Censoring What Certain People See
Following the dissolution of Roe vs. Wade, Facebook has begun to heavily censor content that certain people see.
Last week’s overruling of Roe v. Wade left many people in this country angry, confused, and vulnerable. This upcoming era of restricted abortions, while we have extensive online surveillance, has created new problems for people searching for pregnancy care. Sites like Facebook are already limiting certain content around abortion and hormones.
Both Facebook and Instagram have taken down posts about abortion pills this past weekend. Posts circulating about what people can do to receive an abortion outside of a banned state have been promptly removed, issuing a new censorship problem. The eradicated content was circulating to help women, and other folks needing pregnancy care, find solutions outside of states that were enacting anti-abortion legislation. Presumably, Facebook and Instagram are avoiding potential lawsuits from states that believe the sites are promoting illegal abortions for women.
Immediately after the court overruled Roe v. Wade, an abortion-by-mail infographic exploded on social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The post showed how people could receive abortion pills through the mail, regardless of where they were situated in the United States. Though the infographic provides reliable and thoughtful information on how people can receive safe abortions outside of banned states, Instagram and Facebook began removing those posts left and right. That information going around social media sites over the weekend has been reduced drastically.
After the court’s abysmal decision to reverse Roe v. Wade, most social media sites received a massive uptick in abortion mentions. Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and Instagram all received a record-high spike of the words “abortion pills,” with many including valuable information on obtaining hormones like mifepristone and misoprostol. Media intelligence firm Zignal Labs released data showing that by Sunday, 250,000 abortion-pill mentions occurred across social media sites.
Though many people went immediately to social media to promote valuable services like abortion pills sent through the mail, Facebook and Instagram started taking them down as quickly as possible. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, began regulating posted content that had abortion pills included, with many users noticing their posts deleted within minutes. Many who attempted to put up abortion-by-mail content received messages from Facebook or Instagram stating that the post violated its guidelines on “guns, animals and other regulated goods.”
Though Facebook claims to regulate content regarding guns and violence, many noticed the vigilance of deleting abortion-pill content was more immediate than gun-related content. An AP reporter tested this theory by posting something on Facebook about sending abortion pills through the mail. The post was instantaneously deleted from the platform. The reporter then replaced the words with “gun,” which, not surprisingly, stayed up on Facebook without any warning or removal. The reporter also tried replacing the phrase with “weed,” which is illegal to send through the mail. That Facebook post also remained intact, sadly showcasing Meta’s regulatory priorities.
Though many lamented on social media about how Roe v. Wade’s overturning will set the country back 50 years, this modern era of surveillance presents an even more dire situation than previously for people attempting to access abortions. It’s still legal to send abortion pills through the mail, hopefully giving those needing to receive safe abortions a valid way to obtain one.
