Instagram and Facebook have recently blurred, blocked or removing posts from two abortion pill providers. Instagram also suspended the accounts of some abortion pill providers and concealed the provider to appear in search and recommendations.
The actions increased in the last two weeks, and were particularly visible in the last two days, the abortion pill providers said. Content from their accounts – or in some cases, all their accounts – were no longer visible on Instagram.
Meta, who owns Facebook and Instagram, confirmed account suspensions and blurred posts. The company reset some of the accounts and posts on Thursday after the New York Times asked about actions.
Meta has been under control since Mark Zuckerberg, its chief executive, announced comprehensive changes to the company’s speech policies earlier this month. Mr. Zuckerberg pledged to release restrictions on the internet speech, causing concern between the misinformation researchers and others that shifts can cause a blow to hate speech and have other harmful effects.
Meta said moderating accounts focused on abortion was not related to changing speech policies. But incident time raised questions whether the company was really removing speech limitations and was another example of its challenges in the implementation of content.
A Meta spokesman attributed some of the latest incidents involving posts and accounts related to abortion pill in rules that prohibit the sale of pharmaceutical drugs on its platforms without proper certification. He did not say why the rules were being implemented now. The company also described some of the incidents as “over-luminous”.
Meta, who has previously printed posts from abortion providers, said she was making changes to her speech policies in part to reduce the number of posts that were mistakenly dropped.
“We have been quite clear in the last few weeks we want to allow more speech and reduce implementation errors,” Meta said in a statement.
Lisa Femia, a staff lawyer at the Frontier Electronic Foundation, said that the Supreme Court overturned ROE v. Wade in 2022, “there has been a massive rise in social media platforms that remove the content of reproductive health care and especially abortion pills. This is a continuous, increasing problem and a real threat to people receiving information vital and guidance on health care online. “
AID Access, one of the largest abortion pills in the United States, said some posts were removed on her Facebook account and blurred on her Instagram account since November, with more vague posts days last. The abortion pill service said he has been blocked from entering his Facebook account since November, and his Instagram account was suspended last week, though it has been returned since.
Instagram accounts of other abortion pill providers, including women help women and only the pill, have also been suspended in recent days. The provider said that Meta gave them for suspensions was that their accounts did not “follow our community standards for weapons, drugs and other limited goods”. Both accounts were reset on Thursday.
Hey Jane’s Instagram story, another abortion pill provider, was recently invisible in searching on Instagram, said Rebecca Davis, who runs marketing in Hey Jane. Something similar happened in 2023 until Meta returned it, she said.
“We know in the forefront that this suppression actively prevents Hey are to reach people who are looking for information about health care in time,” Ms. Davis said. “Given the latest Meta promises about free speech, we are very disappointed when we see how the platform is limiting our free speech.”
The Food and Drug Administration allows telecommunications providers to prescribe online and mail prescription medicines that cause an abortion, mifepristone and misoprostol. Twelve states have banned abortion and have more placed gestational boundaries or restrictions on custom pills. But providers in states where abortion is legal have been sending pills to states with prohibitions under shield laws intended to protect them.
Sheera Frankel Contributed Reporting.