The repeal of the right to abortion in the United States by the Supreme Court is already having its effects and, in the first instance, Facebook is complicit in it. At least in the states that, under a conservative political conscience, have rescinded the right of hundreds of women.
In this way, a 17-year-old girl and her mother have been charged with a felony for abortion. Through oral medications during, both later had to dispose of the fetus. How did the police know? Through the young woman’s private chats she kept through her Facebook account. some that the justice demanded to the social network to confirm the crime.
However, certain essential points must be clarified. For one thing, Nebraska, where the mother and daughter reside, has not changed its abortion law after it was struck down by the Supreme Court. In this way, it is still allowed in the North American state under its established assumptions. That is, with a maximum of 20 weeks of gestation and with regulated oral medications. The 17-year-old was in week 23, above what is allowed by the regulations.
In other words, there is a crime. Two, if you add the concealment of the fetus from the authorities. And this is where Facebook comes into play. In order to get rid of the body, they turned to the social network. And it is that, the police, wanted to know specifically if the fetus was already born dead -because of the abortion pills- or was later. And the whole process is in direct messages from Zuckerberg’s company. Was there a crime? Yes, and this is what the Court that requested the sequence of messages from Facebook has ruled. But it is not the fact of abortion that worries the defenders of this freedom in the country, but the position that the social network has taken.
With this situation, which shows that a serious crime was committed -outside the debate on the repeal of the abortion law in the United States-, a bad precedent for the future of many women in the country. Facebook, which had never confirmed its collaboration with the authorities in matters of ceder private and direct messages in cases of abortion of its users, it has now confirmed the maximum.
The dangerous background for Facebook and your private messages
The question of the role of Facebook in this whole situation is what has attracted attention. The case of the mother and daughter from Nebraska puts on the table the fact that Facebook will not offer resistance – one that it seems that it had previously had – in giving information to the authorities. More if it is related to abortion cases.
This case is, in fact, the first to resort to the social network to incriminate for an abortion case. Beyond limitations. In this sense, a statement from Facebook indicates that the legal requirement did not mention the issue of abortion, only a criminal action against a minor. So they could not deny such a fact.
And it is that this case comes at a sensitive time for the country and the company. For the United States because it is in the middle of a debate on a setback of decades of women’s rights regarding their freedom to decide. As well as an active announcement that the steps of women from states that have banned abortion will be actively followed. More so if they go to any of the family management centers and are registered on their lists. Through their TikTok or Instagram accounts, many young women have already seen how anti-abortion groups have watched hundreds of girls from their favorite social network.
Of course, for Facebook. The company hasn’t given many details of what position it has taken on moderating abortion content across all of its platforms. Although it has been possible to verify that, in a systematic way, any related information disappears. At the same time, Meta allows advertisements against abortion –at the same time that it profits from them– and gave information to anti-abortion groups about users who searched on the matter.