Instagram and Facebook recently blamed, blocked or deleted from two providers of abortion pills. Instagram has also suspended the accounts of various providers of abortion pill and hidden the providers to appear in search and recommendations.
The actions have flown in the past two weeks and were especially noticeable in the past two days, said providers of abortus pill. Content of their accounts – or in some cases, their entire accounts – was no longer visible on Instagram.
Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, confirmed some suspensions of accounts and the blurring of messages. The company recovered a few accounts and posts on Thursday, after the New York Times had asked about the actions.
Meta has been examined since Mark Zuckerberg, his Chief Executive, has announced major changes in the company's speech policy earlier this month. Mr. Zuckerberg promised to loosen limitations on online speech, causing concern for researchers of wrong information and others that the shifts can cause a peak in hate speeches and have other harmful effects.
Meta said that the moderation of abortion -oriented accounts was not related to the change in speech policy. But the timing of the incidents argued whether the company really released speech restrictions and was another example of his challenges in the enforcement of the content.
A meta spokesperson wrote some of the recent incidents with regard to abortion-pill-related posts and accounts to rules that prohibit the sale of pharmaceutical medicines on his platforms without good certification. The company also described some of the incidents as 'over-enforcement'.
Meta, who has previously suppressed posts from abortion providers, has said that it partly made its speech policy to reduce the number of posts that was wrongly removed.
“We have been pretty clear in recent weeks that we want to allow more speech and reduce enforcement errors,” Meta said in a statement.
Lisa Femia, a staff lawyer at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said that since the Supreme Court roe v. Wade destroyed in 2022, “There is a huge increase in social media platforms that remove content with regard to reproductive healthcare and specific abortion pills. This is a constant, increasing problem and a real threat to people who receive essential information and guidance about health care online. “
AID ACCESS, one of the largest providers of Abortus Pilo in the United States, said that some messages on her Facebook account were deleted and since November on his Instagram account faded, with more messages in the past days. The abortion pill service said it has been blocked for access to his Facebook account since November, and the Instagram account was suspended last week, although it has been restored since then.
The Instagram accounts from other abortion pill providers, including women, help women and only the pill, were also suspended in recent days. The providers said that the reason that Meta gave them before the suspensions was that their reports did not “followed our community standards on weapons, drugs and other limited goods.” Both accounts were restored on Thursday.
The Instagram report from Hey Jane, another Abortus pill provider, was recently invisible when searching for Instagram, said Rebecca Davis, who leads marketing at Hey Jane. Something similar happened in 2023 until Meta reversed it, she said.
“We know from first -hand that this oppression actively prevents Hey Jane from reaching people who are looking for timely information about health care,” said Mrs. Davis. “Given the recent promises of Meta around free speech, we are incredibly disappointed to see how the platform limits our free speech.”
With the Food and Drug Administration, Telehalth providers can prescribe online and deliver the prescribed medicines by post that cause an abortion, Mifepristone and Misoprostol. Twelve states have banned abortion and more have placed pregnancy limits or limitations on mail order pills. But providers in states where abortion is legal have sent pills to states with prohibited under shield laws that are intended to protect them.
Sheera Frenkel contributed reporting.
