Groups helping Americans find abortion pills report Instagram ‘shadow-banning’
Groups helping Americans find abortion pills report Instagram ‘shadow-banning’
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Organizations find posts censored, removed or made difficult to find in days after Trump return to White House. Over the last week, the accounts of some major organizations that help Americans find abortion pills had their Instagram posts censored, were removed or became difficult to find through searching – a practice known as “shadow-banning”.
Censorship of abortion-related content on social media is a longstanding issue. In the days and weeks after the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade in June 2022, several abortion rights groups had their Instagram and TikTok posts removed or accounts suspended, while Instagram and Facebook deleted the posts of users who mentioned abortion pills.
But the recent erasure and submerging of abortion-related content, so soon after Donald Trump’s return to power, has caused fear among some abortion rights supporters that a bigger crackdown could be on the horizon – and concerns that Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg’s promise to protect “free expression” may not apply to all speech.
“There’s been this narrative of first amendment rights and free speech and we hope that that applies to all forms of speech,” said Rebecca Davis, head of marketing at Hey Jane, a telehealth clinic that provides abortion pills, emergency contraception and birth control.
Since last week, an Instagram search for the words “hey jane” will not surface the organization’s account. Instead, users can only find it if they type in the word “hey jane health” – the account’s full name. This, Davis said, constitutes a shadow ban.
