In these last hours we talk about nothing but the Roe ruling, the right to abortion and the numerous reactions that have been unleashed on social media. On the other hand, it is no secret that Facebook has applied – in an inconsistent way – the policy on the sale / purchase of tobacco and drugs also to abortion pills. A Motherboard reporter, in fact, revealed that the platform reported a post that read “‘the abortion pill can be sent in the mail”. And has temporarily limited some accounts. But did these contents really violate the social policy?
Abortion pills: Meta admits “inadequate” moderation
Just yesterday we told you how Facebook and Instagram moved quickly to remove posts offering abortion pills in countries where the abortion ban went into effect immediately after the Supreme Court ruling. Now, a few hours later, Meta has admitted “wrong execution” of the posts that could trigger the rules on the sale / purchase of drugs on her platforms. Andy Stonethe company’s communications director, admitted he had “discovered some cases of misapplication” of Facebook’s policy.
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
At the same time, in response to a statement from Motherboard, Stone reiterated that content attempting to buy, sell, trade, gift, request or donate pharmaceuticals is not permitted on the platform. But those who argue about the “affordability and accessibility of prescription drugs” are. Therefore, posting that the abortion pill can be sent in the mail shouldn’t go against Facebook’s rules. Beyond this, it should also be considered that the platform only reported posts on abortion pills if shared da account used very rarely.
This means that the application of Meta’s policy has been quite inconsistent, and it is not at all clear why. Perhaps, by reporting content related to sending abortion pills, Facebook wanted to prevent them from reaching those in need. Maybe. In any case, even Instagram has seen a fairly massive removal of this type of content. Despite the hashtag #abortionpills it still has over 1000 results.