Johnsen’s experience is common in the pro-choice activist community. Most of the people who spoke to WIRED said their content appeared to have been automatically removed by the AI, rather than being reported by other users.
Activists also worry that even if the content isn’t completely removed, its reach could be limited by the platform’s AI.
While it’s nearly impossible for users to discern how Meta’s AI moderation is being implemented on their content, last year the company announced it will highlight political and news content in the user’s News Feed. Meta did not respond to questions about whether abortion-related content should be classified as political content.
Just as the various abortion activists who spoke to WIRED have experienced varying degrees of censorship on Meta’s platform, so have users in different locations around the world. WIRED experimented with posting the same phrase, “Abortion pills available in the mail” from Facebook and Instagram accounts in the UK, US, Singapore, and the Philippines in English, Spanish, and Tagalog. Instagram removed English-language posts that contained the phrase when posted from the US, where abortions are newly restricted in some states following a court decision last week, and the Philippines, where the practice is illegal. . But a post from the US written in Spanish and a post from the Philippines in Tagalog both remained.
The phrase still appears on both Facebook and Instagram when posted in English from the UK. When posted in English from Singapore, where abortion is legal and widely accessible, the phrase still appeared on Instagram but was flagged on Facebook.
Courtesy of Kenneth Dimalibot
Courtesy of Kenneth Dimalibot
Ensley told WIRED that Reproaction’s Instagram campaigns about abortion access in Spanish and Polish were both very successful and didn’t experience any of the problems that the group’s English-language content had.
“Meta relies heavily on automated systems that are extremely sensitive in English and less sensitive to other languages,” said Katharine Trendacosta, deputy director of policy and advocacy at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
WIRED also tested Meta’s censorship with Time to donate 1 legal substance for recreational use in 19 states and for medicinal use in 37 states, share the phrase “Marijuana available in the mail” on Facebook in English from the United States. Posts are not flagged.
“Content moderation using AI and machine learning takes time to set up and a lot of effort to maintain,” said a former Meta employee familiar with the organization’s content moderation methods, who said. on condition of anonymity said. “When circumstances change, you need to change the paradigm, but that takes time and effort. So when the world is changing rapidly, those algorithms often don’t perform at their best and may perform with less accuracy during times of intense change. “
However, Trendacosta is concerned that law enforcement could also flag content for removal. In Meta Transparent 2020 Reportedly, the company noted that it had “restricted access to 12 items in the United States as reported by various state Attorneys General regarding the promotion and sale of goods and services authorized by the United States.” administration, and 15 items reported by the Attorney General of the United States of America to be accused of engaging in exorbitant pricing.” All posts were subsequently reinstated. just say to Facebook, “Take this down,” and Facebook does it, even if they eventually restore it, it’s extremely dangerous,” Trendacosta said.
A spokesperson for Meta, Andy Stone, told WIRED that the company hasn’t changed its moderation policies in response to the change. Roe v. Wadeand he said the company is working on repairs. In response to the Motherboard post about censoring abortion-related content, Mr tweeted that Meta does not allow content that attempts to “buy, sell, trade, gift, claim, or give away pharmaceuticals,” but does allow posts that discuss the “affordability and accessibility” of drugs. prescription. He added, “We have discovered several instances of incorrect enforcement and are working on fixing these.” On June 28, Instagram publicly acknowledged that sensitive screens had been added to some abortion posts, calling it a “bug” and saying that the platform was in the process of fixing it.
Meta spokesman Dani Lever did not address questions from WIRED about whether the company would invest in more moderators to work on abortion-related content or if it adopted standards. same for this content in different countries. Lever has confirmed that Meta fixed the issue where Instagram posts were flagged and deleted.
The confusion over Meta’s handling of abortion-related content has led some activists to reflect on the downsides of society becoming dependent on a company’s online social platforms. Robin Marty, author of The New Handbook for a Post-Roe America and director of operations at the West Alabama Women’s Center. “It was a specific location where we all met to celebrate online. And so the very tools that we were given and that we have used for over a decade to make this work possible, are now being taken away from us. “
