Key facts
- Instagram's parent company Meta has faced accusations of restricting women's health content.
- Businesses and creators report content removal, sensitivity filters, and reach suppression.
- The word 'pregnancy' was identified as problematic for adverts by Meta.
- A report found 96% of surveyed women's health creators experienced content restrictions.
- Content related to vulval anatomy and endometriosis has been flagged or removed.
Instagram's parent company Meta has been accused of unfairly restricting content related to women's health, including pregnancy and conditions like endometriosis. Irene Breen, owner of a pregnancy pillow business, reported that her adverts were penalised for using the word 'pregnancy', leading to significant financial losses over a 10-month period of discussions with Meta. She was eventually forced to remove the word from her website and product names.
Similar issues have been reported by women's health creators, charities, and brands, who claim their content is removed, blurred by sensitivity filters, or has its reach suppressed. A report by the campaign group CensHERship found that 96% of surveyed women's health professionals and organisations experienced content restrictions.
Examples include gynaecological cancer charity Eve Appeal having posts about vulval anatomy and #vaginalcancer flagged or removed, and fertility company Hertility having a video about endometriosis classified as political content. Both platforms, Instagram and TikTok, are described as having become 'like an obstacle course' for advertisers, with content frequently flagged, appealed, and removed. This has led to increased self-censorship among creators, with 65% of respondents in the CensHERship survey reporting they now self-censor, using euphemisms and avoiding certain topics.