Meta and Google are accused in a new report of obstructing information about abortion and reproductive health care in Africa, Latin America and Asia.
MSI Reproductive Choices (formerly Marie Stopes International) and the Center for Countering Digital Hate argue that the platforms restrict local abortion providers from advertising but fail to tackle misinformation that undermines public access to reproductive health care.
Meta said it will review the report’s findings.
MSI, which provides contraception and abortion services in 37 countries, said its ads featuring sexual health information, including cancer advice, had been rejected or removed by the platform.
Phrases like “pregnancy options” have been flagged as violating Google’s community guidelines, MSI Ghana claims. MSI Vietnam said Facebook ads promoting information about intrauterine devices (IUDs) and other contraceptive methods have been removed.
Whitney Chinogwenya, MSI global marketing manager, said: “In Africa, Facebook is the go-to resource for reproductive health information for many women. We’ve scaled up our digital operations to meet demand, but we’re struggling to get reliable information to the women who need it.
“We deal with everything from menopause to menstruation, but we find all our content is censored.”
She said Meta viewed reproductive health content through “an American lens,” applying socially conservative American values to posts published in countries with progressive policies, such as South Africa, where abortion on demand is legal during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy.
MSI Mexico said his Facebook posts promoting legal abortion services were removed by the platform. Abortion was decriminalized in September and is available on request in Mexico City and eleven other states.
Chinogwenya said Meta is not doing enough to combat anti-abortion misinformation, accepting ads from organizations that claim medical abortions lead to “fatal vaginal bleeding” or that upload pregnancy photos of late-stage pregnancies claiming they come from earlier fetal stages in a attempt to stigmatize pregnancy. procedure.
The report, published on Wednesday, identified fake MSI pages on Facebook, including five in Kenya.
MSI said it tried to request that Meta remove the pages but had difficulty reaching a company representative.
“Some pages are from informal abortion providers who want to ride on MSI’s reputation,” Chinogwenya said. “Others will belong to pregnancy crisis centers, which pose as abortion clinics to discourage and prevent women from terminating their pregnancies. But there are also many scammers. Women often come to our clinics after being sold everything from aspirin to laxatives by online scammers.”
According to the report, MSI clinics in Ghana were targeted by a disinformation campaign on Meta’s WhatsApp messaging platform.
“Establishing a fact-checking system for reproductive health information and services is one of the best things Meta could do,” says Esi Asare Prah, advocacy and donor relations manager at MSI Ghana, where abortion is allowed under limited circumstances. She hopes the report will make digital platforms aware of their responsibilities to users in the Global South. “Whether it’s content that promotes health misinformation or directs women and girls to unsafe services, there are ultimately real users who are being harmed,” she said.
The report was compiled from correspondence and interviews with MSI’s local teams in Ghana, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria and Vietnam, and evidence gathered from Meta’s Ad Library.
A spokesperson for Meta, Ryan Daniels, said: “We allow posts and advertisements promoting healthcare services, as well as discussion and debate around them. Reproductive health content must follow our rules, including those regarding prescription drugs and misinformation, and ads promoting reproductive health products or services may only be directed to people 18 years and older.
“We prohibit advertisements that contain false information or mislead people about the services a company provides, and we will review the contents of this report.”
A Google spokesperson said: “This report does not include any examples of policy-violating content on the Google platform, nor any examples of inconsistent enforcement.”
The spokesperson said advertisements referring to ‘pregnancy options’ are not banned in Ghana. “If advertising was restricted, it was likely due to our long-standing policy against targeting people based on sensitive health categories, including pregnancy.”