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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Carter Sherman

Groups helping Americans find abortion pills report Instagram ‘shadow-banning’

a man in a suit looks ahead
Abortion rights supporters fear the Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg’s promise to protect ‘free expression’ may not apply to all speech. Photograph: Shawn Thew/UPI/Rex/Shutterstock

Over the last week, the accounts of some major organizations that help Americans find abortion pills had their Instagram posts censored or removed, and at least one group said its account became difficult to find through searching – a practice known as “shadow-banning”.

Censorship of abortion-related content on social media is a longstanding issue. In the days and weeks after the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade in June 2022, several abortion rights groups had their Instagram and TikTok posts removed or accounts suspended, while Instagram and Facebook deleted the posts of users who mentioned abortion pills.

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