Facebook and Instagram are removing posts and banning users mentioning abortion pills, The Guardian reported on Tuesday.
Both social media networks are owned by Meta and started removing posts mentioning abortion pills to enforce the company’s policy that prohibits the sale of pharmaceuticals, according to comments from a Meta spokesperson given to The Guardian.
The posts being removed included memes and status updates that explain how women could obtain abortion pills. Some posts detailed ways of obtaining the pills by mail in states where abortions are still legal after the Supreme Court ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade, whiles others offered the pills specifically to women living in states where the pills are not allowed, according to The Guardian.
Meta spokesman, Andy Stone, clarified on Twitter that “content that discusses the affordability and accessibility of prescription medication is allowed” and that they are working on correcting erroneous enforcement. (RELATED: Babylon Bee Locked Out Of Twitter For ‘Hateful Conduct’)
Content that attempts to buy, sell, trade, gift, request or donate pharmaceuticals is not allowed. Content that discusses the affordability and accessibility of prescription medication is allowed. We’ve discovered some instances of incorrect enforcement and are correcting these.
— Andy Stone (@andymstone) June 27, 2022
Meta’s policy does not just restrict the sale of pharmaceuticals, but it also includes guns, alcohol and drugs, according to The Guardian.
Reporters from the Associated Press tested Facebook’s algorithm by writing a post that said “If you send me your address, I will mail you abortion pills.” The account was immediately put on a “warning” status and the post was removed in less than a minute. When the words “abortion pills” was swapped out for the words “a gun” and “weed,” the post was not considered a violation, according to the outlet.
Stone posted a lengthy thread earlier this month in response to a story from the Washington Post alleging that Facebook was not enforcing its policy of not allowing the sale of guns on the platform.
Today’s @washingtonpost story distorts Meta’s approach to penalizing people who attempt to buy or sell guns on our platforms. Not once, but at least 5 times. A 🧵
— Andy Stone (@andymstone) June 9, 2022
Meta did not comment on the alleged discrepancy in its enforcement of this policy, according to The Guardian.