Instagram and Facebook recently blurred, blocked or removed posts from two suppliers of abortion pills. Instagram also suspended the accounts of several abortion pill providers and hid providers from appearing in searches and recommendations.
The shares have surged over the past two weeks and were particularly noticeable in the past two days, suppliers of abortion pills said. The contents of their accounts – or in some cases, their entire accounts – were no longer visible on Instagram.
Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, confirmed some account suspensions and blurring of posts. The company reinstated some of the accounts and posts Thursday, after The New York Times asked about the actions.
Meta has come under scrutiny since Mark Zuckerberg, its CEO, announced broad changes to the company’s speech policies earlier this month. Zuckerberg has promised to ease restrictions on online speech, causing concerns among disinformation researchers and others that the shifts could cause a spike in hate speech and have other harmful effects.
Meta said the moderation in abortion-focused reporting was not related to the change in speech policies. But the timing of the incidents raised questions about whether the company was truly easing speech restrictions and was another example of its content enforcement challenges.
A spokesperson for Meta attributed some of the recent incidents involving abortion-related posts and counts to rules that prohibit the sale of drugs on its platforms without proper certification. The company also described some of the incidents as “excessive force.”
Meta, which previously eliminated abortion provider posts, said it was making changes to its speech policies in part to reduce the number of posts that were mistakenly demolished.
“We have been quite clear over the past few weeks that we want to allow more speech and reduce enforcement errors,” Meta said in a statement.
Lisa Fema, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said that since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, “There has been a huge increase in social media platforms removing content related to reproductive healthcare and abortion pills in particular. This is an ongoing, growing problem and a real threat to people receiving vital healthcare information and assistance online. “
Aid Access, one of the largest providers of abortion pills in the United States, said some posts have been removed on its Facebook account and blurred on its Instagram account since November, with other posts blurred in recent days. The abortion pill service said it had been blocked from accessing its Facebook account since November, and its Instagram account was suspended last week, although it has since been reinstated.
Instagram accounts of other suppliers of abortion pills, including Women Helping Women and Just the Pill, have also been suspended in recent days. The vendors said the reason Meta gave them suspensions was that their reports did not “follow our community standards on guns, drugs and other restricted merchandise.” Both accounts were reinstated on Thursday.
The Instagram account of Hey Jane, another supplier of abortion pills, was recently invisible in Instagram search, said Rebecca Davis, who leads marketing for Hey Jane. Something similar happened in 2023 until Meta reversed, he said.
“We know firsthand that this suppression is actively preventing Hey Jane from reaching people who are looking for timely health information,” Ms. Davis said. “Given Meta’s recent promises on free speech, we are incredibly disappointed to see how the platform is restricting our free speech.”
The Food and Drug Administration allows telehealth providers to prescribe the abortion-causing prescription drugs mifepristone and misoprostol online and deliver by mail. Twelve states have banned abortion, and others have placed gestational limits or restrictions on mail-order 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 reports.