Since the Supreme Court’s decision to reverse its previous ruling, Roe v. WadeInstagram and Facebook have been taking down posts that help people access abortions and other reproductive services. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D.Massachusetts), is asking the companies for an end to the practice.
Warren and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) sent a letter to the two companies last week, asking them to explain why they’re censoring posts that don’t contain misinformation about abortion or posts that just inform people of their rights in the wake of Dobbs v. Jackson. They claim that such posts are essential in helping people who may be using social media to discuss or find information on abortion access.
“We write to express our concern about reports that Facebook and Instagram are censoring posts containing accurate information about abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson,” the lawmakers wrote. “In the aftermath of the decision, many took to social media to share stories about the impact of the decision, let others know how to legally obtain abortion services, and to discuss their personal experiences.”
Last month, abortion posts spiked as a result of the Dobbs decision, Motherboard foundFacebook and Instagram removed posts regarding legal access to abortion medication. Some users claimed that they were banned after they offered to mail abortion pills directly to anyone who needed them.
When you are a MotherboardReporter tried to create a test blog post about sending abortion medication. However, the company took down the posts almost immediately and the account responsible for posting the information was suspended 24 hours later. Similar posts offering to mail other pills or just mentioning abortion without the phrase “abortion pills” were not removed. The Associated Press found thatPosts about marijuana and mail guns were not removed, despite federal restrictions on shipping guns. It is also illegal to obtain marijuana in many other states.
Instagram seems to be taking a more stringent approach to posts about abortion. Pro-abortion activist Asha Dahya wroteInstagram had placed a content warning on her Instagram post, which featured a poster she created for a documentary. You know someone. The filter said that the post, showing a stylized illustration of three people, “may contain graphic or violent content.”
Another post from an account with over 25,000 followers that said “Abortion in America How You Can Help” and urged people to donate to abortion funds, was also hiddenBehind a content warning. The company claimed it was a “bug.”
Brooke Erin Duffy, a Cornell University professor who studies social networks, spoke at the Associated PressAlthough the company may have been actively blocking posts that are related to abortion, they claimed that it was a bug. “We don’t know what happened. That’s what’s chilling about this,” said Duffy. Advocates for abortion rights have called the censorship “unconscionable.”
Klobuchar and Warren both point out that social media users had similar problems when Facebook and Instagram were launched. were hiding posts about abortion medications last September, when Texas’s abortion ban First went into effect. This could suggest that the censorship isn’t merely a bug, as Instagram claimed.
The lawmakers want companies to explain how they censor posts about abortion, and to provide an accounting of how many hashtags and posts related to abortion have been removed from social media platforms.
In recent months, Democrats also highlighted privacy concerns in relation to tech companies. Warren and 13 other were among the 12 who spoke out in May. lawmakers sent lettersTwo data companies were selling location data about people who visited clinics that provided reproductive health services, including abortions. These data could be used by states to incriminate those seeking abortions or could be used as a weapon against them. The companies later agreed to permanently stopAfter concerns were raised by lawmakers, such data was sold.
