Instagram and Facebook have recently blurred, blocked or removed posts from two abortion pill providers. Instagram also suspended the accounts of some abortion pill providers and hid the providers from appearing in searches and recommendations.
Actions increased in the past two weeks, and were particularly noticeable in the past two days, abortion pill providers said. Content from their accounts — or in some cases, all of their accounts — were no longer visible on Instagram.
Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, confirmed the account suspensions and obfuscation of posts. The company reinstated some of the accounts and posts on Thursday after the New York Times asked about the actions.
Meta has been under scrutiny since Mark Zuckerberg, its chief executive, announced sweeping changes to the company’s speech policies earlier this month. Mr. Zuckerberg pledged to loosen restrictions on online speech, prompting concerns among disinformation researchers and others that the changes could cause a crackdown on hate speech and have other harmful effects.
Meta said the moderation of abortion-focused accounts was not tied to changing speech policies. But the timing of the incidents raised questions about whether the company was really lifting speech restrictions and was another example of its challenges in enforcing content.
A Meta spokesperson attributed some of the recent incidents involving posts and accounts linked to the abortion pill to rules that prohibit the sale of pharmaceutical drugs on its platforms without proper certification. He did not say why the rules were being enforced now. The company also described some of the incidents as “over-enforcement”.
Meta, which has previously suppressed posts from abortion providers, said it was making changes to its speech policies in part to reduce the number of posts that were mistakenly taken down.
“We have been quite clear in recent weeks that we want to allow more speech and reduce enforcement errors,” Meta said in a statement.
Lisa Femia, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said that since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, “There has been a massive uptick in social media platforms removing content related to reproductive health care and specifically the abortion pill. This is an ongoing, growing problem and a real threat to people getting information vital and online health care guidelines.
Aid Access, one of the largest providers of abortion pills in the United States, said some posts on its Facebook account had been removed and blurred on its Instagram account since November, with more posts being blurred by the day. the last one. The abortion pill service said it has been blocked from accessing its Facebook account since November, and its Instagram account was suspended last week, though it has since been reinstated.
The Instagram accounts of other abortion pill providers, including Women Help Women and Just the Pill, were also suspended in recent days. Providers said the reason Meta gave them for the suspensions was that their accounts did not “follow our community standards for guns, drugs and other restricted goods.” Both accounts were restored on Thursday.
The Instagram account of Hey Jane, another abortion pill provider, was recently invisible in Instagram search, said Rebecca Davis, who heads marketing at Hey Jane. Something similar happened in 2023 until Meta turned it around, she said.
“We know firsthand that this suppression actively prevents Hey Jane from reaching people who are looking for health care information in a timely manner,” Ms. Davis said. “Given Meta’s recent promises about free speech, we are extremely disappointed to see how the platform is restricting our free speech.”
The Food and Drug Administration allows telecommunications providers to prescribe online and mail order the abortion-inducing prescription drugs mifepristone and misoprostol. Twelve states have banned abortion and more have imposed gestational limits or restrictions on prescription pills. But providers in states where abortion is legal have been sending pills to states with bans under shield laws meant to protect them.
Sheera Frenkel Contributed reporting.