Sawt Falasteen - Blurred posts, banned accounts: Abortion groups decry Meta 'suppression'

Reproductive rights organizations accuse Meta of leading the latest wave of digital suppression on Instagram and Facebook, drawing attention to CEO Mark Zuckerberg's pledge to refocus on free speech.

Meta confirmed to AFP that groups including Aid Access, Women Help Women, and Plan C had experienced varying degrees of issues with their content.

"These groups encountered both correct enforcement and a variety of issues, including overenforcement and a technical bug," a spokesperson said, citing prohibitions on the sale of drugs without proper certification as an example of legitimate enforcement.

"We've been quite clear in recent weeks that we want to allow more speech and reduce enforcement mistakes -- and we're committed to doing that."

But the accounts were only restored after AFP and other news outlets initiated queries, with the organizations crediting media pressure for the change.

- Anti-abortion administration -

Zuckerberg's recent overtures to Trump, whose inauguration he attended with other tech moguls, could point to alignment with the new anti-abortion administration, observers say.

In its first days, the Trump administration took down reproductiverights.gov and targeted abortion access at home and abroad, including by rescinding orders that protected access to abortion pills and women's ability to travel to states where the procedure is not banned.

It also cut off funding to foreign groups providing such services.

"Meta has said that they're trying to get back to the roots of free expression -- but right now, it's hard to tell who exactly is going to be able to exercise that right fully," Jane Eklund, author of an Amnesty International report on abortion information censorship, told AFP.

"It really is a wait and see in how these tech bros are cozying up to the new administration and trying to gain favor with it -- I am concerned about how this is going to play out."

Aid Access was founded by Dutch physician Rebecca Gomperts to provide abortion pills over the internet, a key means of accessing the procedure in the United States, where abortion has been outlawed or restricted in nearly half of states since a landmark court ruling in 2022.

"It was in the beginning of January that we first noticed it," the 59-year-old told AFP, referring to pages removed on Instagram and Facebook.

They were later restored, though some posts were still blurred. Gomperts, known for her "abortion boat" that anchored off coasts of countries banning the procedure, said she was no stranger to censorship having previously lost her personal Facebook account and access to Google ads.

Though Aid Access's pages are now back, she remains concerned for the future. People "need to have the help they need, period," she said.

- Perpetuates 'stigma' -

Another group, Women Help Women, only regained its account after AFP queried Meta.

"On December 26, Meta blocked our Instagram account, @womenhelporg, without warning, claiming it violated 'community standards,'" Lucia Berro Pizzarossa of the group told AFP.

"This account had been reaching thousands with crucial, evidence-based information and messages aimed at reducing stigma around abortion."

"Search engines have deprioritized our website, and shadow banning has invisibly suppressed our reach on social media, making it harder for individuals to find accurate and timely resources."

Advocates worry that such measures perpetuate stigma, with abortion-seekers at times resorting to "algospeak" or coded expressions to circumvent automated moderation measures.

"People try to share information and they can't, and then they tell us 'we don't know what we did wrong,'" said Martha Dimitratou, digital strategist for Plan C, a US group that provides information on self-managed, at-home abortion with pills.

Plan C lost access to its Meta advertising account in December, severely curbing how many people it could reach, Dimitratou said. That too was restored after AFP made inquiries.

Even with accounts now restored, Berro Pizzarossa of Women Help Women said there was no clear process for appeal if suppression happens again.

J.AbuHassan--SF-PST