John,

Last week, House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg demanding answers on Facebook’s advertising practices, specifically allowing anti-abortion disinformation to proliferate through paid advertisements while suppressing fact-based abortion content – including ours. [1]

Everyone deserves accurate, fact-based information about abortion. Even, and especially, on social media. Give to show you agree.

In his letter, Rep. Nadler referenced our experience last year using the platform. One of our posts sharing the World Health Organization protocol for self-managed abortion with pills was removed for going against community guidelines. We were left with no recourse – only the option to request a review of our page, but not of the post itself. However, we discovered later that the post was quietly reinstated without any notification to us.

We thank the House Judiciary Committee for using our experience as a clear example of Facebook’s history of hiding accurate medical information about abortion while allowing bogus claims and pseudo-science to proliferate. And we encourage further scrutiny of the way Facebook reviews posts.

Self-managed abortion is a safe, effective, and vital option at all times, but especially during an ongoing pandemic and at a time when in-clinic care options are rapidly shrinking. Donate to empower people with accurate information across all platforms.

We have all seen the dangers of what can happen when social media is used as a weapon to influence public opinion – for years, Facebook has caved and made concessions to conservatives. [2] This creates an environment allowing for right-wing disinformation to run free on its platforms. This is not only happening with abortion. Further, there is a pattern of Facebook’s own creation where toxic speech garners the highest levels of engagement.  

This can’t stand. So many people rely on social media for so much of their day-to-day life: from staying engaged with friends and family to finding and supporting political causes. The information accessed there should be accurate and free from hate.

Sincerely,

Erin Matson
Reproaction, Executive Director

P.S. We hope other leaders will follow Nadler’s example and take a stand against companies that choose to allow anti-abortion hate and disinformation to roam free while suppressing fact-based abortion content.

[1] https://judiciary.house.gov/uploadedfiles/2.11.22_facebook_ltr_re_abortion_reversal_treatment.pdf

[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/02/20/facebook-republican-shift/

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