Instagram and Facebook blocked posts by abortion pill providers

Meta platforms Instagram and Facebook blocked and hid posts by abortion pill providers, the New York Times reported. The company confirmed to the Times that it blurred some posts and suspended some providers’ accounts. The actions have reportedly ramped up this week following Trump’s inauguration.

This month, before the inauguration, Meta made several major changes to its platforms, including removing fact-checks and relaxing hate speech policies. A Meta spokesperson told the Times that the post-blocking and account suspensions aren’t related to the moderation changes and attributed some of the incidents to the “overenforcement” of rules prohibiting pharmaceutical drug sales without proper certification.

Aid Access, Women Help Women, Just the Pill, and Hey Jane are abortion pill providers impacted by these actions, the Times reported.

In recent weeks, Instagram came under fire for blocking LGBTQ content (Meta claimed it was an “accident”) and the #democrat hashtag.

For years, Meta platforms, particularly Instagram, have been accused of blocking and removing posts and accounts sharing sex-educational and LGBTQ content. In 2022, Instagram blocked posts that mentioned abortion following the overturning of Roe v. Wade (apparently due to a “technical glitch”). Mashable has also previously reported that Meta rejected period care ads for being political or adult content.

This week, The Trump administration shut down reproductiverights.gov, a site set up after Roe was overturned. The government site provided information on birth control, emergency contraception, and abortion pills.