Instagram has deleted some posts and limited at least two hashtags related to abortion services, according to some of the platform’s users and warnings that have been added to certain topics.
The platform also briefly suspended and then reinstated an account belonging to an abortion services location platform.
NBC News found that searches for two terms and hashtags related to abortion pills — prescribed pills that can be taken to induce abortion and are still available for mail order in all 50 states from overseas providers — returned almost no new posts, indicating that the company is limiting what users can see.
Unlike normal searches on Instagram, searches for “abortion pills” and “mifepristone” (a popular abortion pill) on Monday did not immediately yield results. On the hashtags for the same terms, a message was displayed that recent posts with the tags “are hidden because some posts may not follow Instagram’s Community Guidelines.” The note does not specify what guidelines have been violated, and it’s not clear when Instagram began limiting the hashtags.
The limitations placed on the hashtags mean that the most recent posts with the tags, which are usually found in a separate tab, aren’t available for users to see. For anyone searching for up-to-date information on the hashtag pages, that means they will have to scroll through older, more-liked posts first, including anti-abortion posts.
Dave Arnold, a public affairs director at Instagram’s parent company, Meta, referred NBC News to a tweet from Meta communications director Andy Stone, which pointed to the company’s “regulated goods” policy. Stone wrote: “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.”
Later on Monday, after this article was originally published, Instagram unblocked the “abortion pills” and “mifepristone” hashtags.
Tech news website Motherboard reported Monday that Facebook, another Meta-owned platform, is also restricting certain posts about abortion pills and resources.
Other posts and hashtags about abortion pill resources remain intact on the platform, including posts that direct users to abortion pill resources and…
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