Digital suppression of information can consist of a wide array of actions that ultimately limit the visibility or availability of abortion information in digital spaces.
What is Digital Suppression
In the past few years, our coalition co-chairs, member organizations, and those working within the field of SRHR have worked in partnership to gather evidence of the different types of content suppression.
Leading international human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and major media outlets like the New York Times have reported on this issue impacting reproductive health and rights organizations worldwide. Here are the most common ways the dissemination of SRHR information can be limited online:
1) Content removal
Reproductive health and rights organizations have reported their abortion content being removed for “violating community guidelines”, even if the content of the post is not violative.
Sometimes, platforms will incorrectly cite that abortion content is removed for violating policies on the sale of regulated goods or pharmaceuticals, even if there is no mention of how to purchase abortion medications in the post.
In the most extreme cases, some reproductive health and rights accounts are suspended from social media platforms with little to no explanation, which fully limits their ability to share information about abortion care and how to access it.
2) Reduced Reach
Many reproductive health and rights advocates fear that directly discussing abortion on social media may lead to their accounts receiving less engagement (such as lower views on videos or fewer likes on posts).
Out of the fear of being censored, some accounts use alternative spellings of the word “abortion” (such as “@bortion” or “ab0rti0n”) because they believe it reduces the restriction of their content. It is also used to ensure that the content is still visible and discoverable, as users believe the visibility of certain content is limited because of the specific words that they use.
Connect with us
Get in touch with us and let us know about your experience with content suppression. We would love to share your experience and work with you in finding ways to circumvent censorship.
The action of limiting the visibility of a user on a social media platform or other online space without them being notified. When a user is shadowbanned, the visibility of their organic content to their followers is very limited, and their account may not be found using the platform’s search function.
This can severely reduce an account’s engagement, and make the account nearly invisible to other users on the platform.
3) Shadowbanning
4) Advertising restriction
Some platforms restrict or ban the advertisement of content that references abortion. For example, TikTok and Reddit ban the advertisement of abortion services. Organizations have also reported difficulties advertising about abortion information or services on platforms that don’t explicitly restrict such ads.
This ultimately prevents telehealth clinics from being able to reach abortion seekers