Amid the abortion row in the United States, many pointed out that abortion pills are easily accessible on social media sites Facebook and Instagram. However taking action against this, both Facebook and Instagram have started the process of removing such posts
Supreme Court’s recently decided to strip away constitutional protections for the procedure. There are at least 13 states with so-called “trigger laws” that have now banned abortion. At least 26 states are likely to ban abortion quickly now that power has returned to states. Earlier, women could terminate a pregnancy during the first trimester, and in some states, abortions were allowed even during the second and third trimesters.
Following the ruling, many, however, voiced how women could legally obtain abortion pills on social media platforms. Almost immediately, Facebook and Instagram began removing some of these posts, as many are seen to be searching for clarity around abortion access.
General mentions of abortion pills, as well as posts mentioning specific versions such as mifepristone and misoprostol, suddenly spiked Friday morning across Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and TV broadcasts, according to an analysis by the media intelligence firm Zignal Labs, a post by Independent reads.
To check the same, a reporter, mentions Independent, posted on Insta, “DM me if you want to order abortion pills, but want them sent to my address instead of yours.” Instagram took it down within moments.
For a similar post on Facebook, the account was immediately put on a “warning” status. Also, the post was removed within one minute.
Meta spokesperson pointed to company policies that prohibit the sale of certain items, including guns, alcohol, drugs and pharmaceuticals. The company did not explain the apparent discrepancies in its enforcement of that policy.
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone confirmed in a tweet Monday that the company will not allow individuals to gift or sell pharmaceuticals on its platform, but will allow content that shares information on how to access pills. Stone acknowledged some problems with enforcing that policy across its platforms, which include Facebook and Instagram.
“We’ve discovered some instances of incorrect enforcement and are correcting these,” Stone said in the tweet.
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