Abortion advocates raise alarm about social platforms removing posts in apparent overreach

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Eventually, the video was restored in May with no explanation.

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“I work in public health in my 9-to-5 and we’re seeing a real suppression of public health information and dissemination of that information, particularly in the reproductive health space. And people are scared,” Miller said. “It’s really important to get people this medically accurate information so that they’re not afraid and they actually can access the health care that they need.”

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TikTok does not generally prohibit sharing information about abortion or abortion medication, however it does regulate selling and marketing drugs, including abortion pills and it prohibits misinformation that could harm people.

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On Facebook, the Red River Women’s Clinic in Moorhead, Minnesota, put up a post saying it offers both surgical and medicated abortion after it heard from a patient who didn’t know it offered medication abortion. The post included a photo of mifepristone. When the clinic tried to turn the post into an ad, its account was suspended. The clinic says that since it does not offer telehealth services, it was not attempting to sell the medication. The clinic appealed the decision and won a reversal, but the account was suspended again shortly after. Ultimately, the clinic was able to resolve the issue through a connection at Meta.

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“We were not trying to sell drugs. We were just informing our followers about a service, a legal service that we offer. So that’s alarming that, you know, that was flagged as not fitting into their standards,” said clinic director Tammi Kromenaker. “To have a private company like Meta just go with the political winds and say, we don’t agree with this, so we’re going to flag these and we’re going to shut these down, is very alarming.”

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Meta said its policies and enforcement regarding medication-related abortion content have not changed and were not impacted by the changes announced in January, which included the end of its fact-checking program.

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“We allow posts and ads promoting health care services like abortion, as well as discussion and debate around them, as long as they follow our policies — and we give people the opportunity to appeal decisions if they think we’ve got it wrong,” the company said in a statement.

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In late January, Emory University’s Center for Reproductive Health Research in the Southeast, or RISE, put up an Instagram post about mifepristone that described what it is and why it matters. In March, its account was suspended. The organization then appealed the decision but the appeal was denied and its account was deleted permanently. This decision was later reversed after they were able to connect with someone at Meta. Once the account was restored, it became clear that the suspension was because it was flagged as trying to “buy, sell, promote or exchange illegal or restricted drugs.”

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“Where I get concerned is (that) with the increased use of social media, we also have seen correspondingly an increased rise of misinformation and disinformation on social media platforms about many health topics,” said Sara Redd, Speaker director of research translation at RISE and an assistant professor at Emory University. “One of main goals through our communications and through our social media is to promote scientifically accurate evidence-based information about reproductive health care, including abortion.”

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Laura Edelson, assistant professor of computer science at Northeastern University, said that at the end of the day, while people love to debate platforms’ policies and what the policies should be, what matters is people’s “experiences of sharing information and the information are able to get and they’re able to see.”

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“This is just a policy that is not being implemented well. And that, in and of itself, is not all that surprising because we know that Meta has dramatically reduced spending on content moderation efforts,” Edelson said. “There are fewer people who are spending time maintaining automated models. And so content that is even vaguely close to borderline is at risk of being taken down.”

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