Meta’s Gun Ads, Anti-Abortion Research, and the Transgender Care Ban
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** CfA's October 11, 2024 Newsletter
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With your support, Campaign for Accountability is working to expose corruption and hold the powerful accountable.
** This Week's Updates:
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TTP Reveals that Meta is Still Approving Advertisements for Firearms
On Monday, CfA’s Tech Transparency Project published a report ([link removed]) identifying over 230 advertisements for guns, gun accessories, or ammunition that had been approved by Meta’s automatic screening systems, in violation of its own advertising guidelines ([link removed]) . Several of the ads or associated Telegram channels claimed to be selling untraceable ghost guns, and even offered free or worldwide shipping.
Americans have used Meta platforms to sell guns for over a decade ([link removed]) , though the company pledged ([link removed]) to stop allowing private firearms sales in 2016. TTP first drew attention to this problem in 2022, with a report ([link removed]) that flagged 173 firearm advertisements approved by Meta. A Meta spokesperson told ([link removed]) NBC that TTP’s research was “misleading,” because “most” users do not see advertisements for weapons.
Regardless of what “most” users experience, Meta’s lack of quality control has clearly allowed bad actors to take advantage of its platforms. In March, the Wall Street Journal reported ([link removed]) that federal prosecutors were investigating the company for facilitating and profiting from drug sales. Unlike lawsuits regarding scam advertisements ([link removed]) , which the company dodged using Section 230, these law enforcement investigations may eventually force Meta to clean up its act – or maybe even hire human workers to monitor the systems that generate its revenue.
TTP’s report was a collaboration with Everytown for Gun Safety, who issued a set of recommendations ([link removed]) around the findings to Meta for making its platform safer from illicit gun sales.
Anti-Abortion Academics Sue Journal for Retracting Flawed Research
Last week, a group of anti-abortion researchers filed a lawsuit ([link removed]) against Sage Publications, arguing that the academic publisher caused “enormous and incalculable” harm to their reputations by retracting three articles ([link removed]) they had authored on abortion complications, the use of mifepristone, and the characteristics of doctors who perform abortions. The last article ([link removed]) , which referred to care providers as “abortionists,” used data provided by Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration to attack physicians’ qualifications. In the article’s discission session, the authors write that the “relatively advanced age distribution and large percentage of abortionists with some malpractice claim, disciplinary action, public complaint, or criminal charge suggest that these doctors may
be a subset of practicing physicians for whom abortion practice may be a final professional expedient [emphasis added].” This analysis completely ignores the fact that abortion providers are frequently harassed ([link removed]) by anti-abortion activists and targeted with groundless complaints ([link removed]) .
All but one of authors were also affiliated with anti-abortion advocacy organizations, which none of them chose to disclose in their conflict-of-interest statements. You can read more the retraction of the medication abortion research in Scientific American ([link removed]) .
Tennessee Attorney General Asks Court to Uphold Gender Affirming Care Ban for Youth, Citing Dobbs
This week, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti filed a Supreme Court brief ([link removed]) defending the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth, citing the Court’s Dobbs decision to argue that the ban is an “even-handed ‘regulation of a medication procedure,’” rather than a form of discrimination. The ban ([link removed]) was signed into law in March 2023, and prohibits physicians from providing any treatment to minors that enables them to “identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor's sex.” In 2024, Tennessee’s legislature went further by criminalizing ([link removed]) the act of helping a minor access gender affirming care without a parent’s consent. Some families have alread
y fled the state ([link removed].) to allow their children to begin receiving treatment, while others embark on regular road trips to states where they can meet with doctors and fill prescriptions. In June, the Supreme Court announced ([link removed]) that it would consider a challenge of the ban, which was brought by the ACLU ([link removed]) .
What We're Reading
What’s happening in America today is something darker than a misinformation crisis ([link removed])
CVS, UnitedHealth, Cigna say FTC should take Lina Khan and two commissioners off drug middlemen case ([link removed])
FBI probe of Kavanaugh constrained by Trump White House, report finds ([link removed])
** Follow Our Work:
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We thank you for your continued support. Without people like you, our work would not be possible.
Here is how you can stay involved and help us accomplish our mission:
1. Follow CfA on Threads ([link removed]) and BlueSky ([link removed])
2. Follow the Tech Transparency Project on Threads ([link removed]) and Bluesky ([link removed])
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5. Make a tax-deductible donation ([link removed]) .
Be on the lookout for more updates about our work in the upcoming weeks. Thanks again for signing up to be a part of CfA!
Sincerely,
Michelle Kuppersmith
Executive Director, Campaign for Accountability
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