Facebook and Instagram will remove posts offering abortion pills

Sharanya Sinha
Sharanya Sinha June 28, 2022
Updated 2022/07/03 at 1:43 PM

According to a regulation regarding medicines, Facebook and Instagram are banning postings from individuals who provide assistance in obtaining abortion drugs. Social media users posted messages offering to deliver abortion pills to those whose access to abortion has been removed or will be shortly in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade on Friday. However, as reported by Motherboard and the Associated Press, consumers are discovering that their offers are soon limited or eliminated. An AP reporter offered to provide abortion drugs in a test Facebook post, but it was taken down in under a minute. Similar outcomes came from a reporter’s test, in which a post advertising abortion medication was blocked within two minutes. The same portion of Meta’s restricted products policy that forbids medications also forbids the sale, gifting, and transfer of weapons and marijuana. However, test posters by the AP that offered to ship out marijuana and firearms were left in place.

A spokeswoman for Meta, Andy Stone, tweeted on Monday in reaction to reports that “material that seeks to purchase, sell, barter, gift, request, or donate drugs is not permitted.” According to Stone, articles that discuss the “affordability and accessibility of prescription drugs” are permitted, and the firm was resolving cases of “incorrect enforcement.” Questions for clarity on the policy’s application and the causes of the inconsistencies were not immediately answered by Meta. Social media has emerged as a crucial tool for disseminating information about the various abortion services accessible in the days after the Roe decision.

However, several significant resource providers have been denied access to their platforms due to social media firms’ moderation choices at a time when the need is most pressing. According to NBC News, Abortion Finder, a website that lets users look for healthcare providers, was momentarily blocked from Instagram on Sunday due to Meta invoking its restricted products policy. Since then, the account has been reinstated.

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