Article Summary
A number of organizations providing information about abortion access in Latin America have had their WhatsApp business accounts blocked, causing significant disruptions in communication with women seeking help. This is believed to be due to a combination of changes to Meta policies and attacks by anti-abortion groups. The blocking of these accounts has complicated daily interactions between women and support providers, and has led to decreased appointments and access to critical reproductive health services.
What This Means for You
- Women in Latin America may face increased difficulties in accessing reliable information and services related to abortion.
- Organizations supporting reproductive rights need to adapt to new censorship tactics, including over-enforcement of moderation policies and potential AI-driven flagging of posts.
- Meta and other tech companies must address the concerns of reproductive health organizations, implement transparent appeal mechanisms, and respect international human rights standards.
- The future of reliable access to reproductive health information and resources in Latin America and beyond is uncertain, as conservative or religious groups continue to attempt to obstruct abortion supporters’ efforts through technology companies.
Original Post
MEXICO CITY — All of a sudden, women contacting one of the biggest sources of information about abortion in Mexico through the encrypted messaging app WhatsApp were met with silence. The nongovernmental organization’s business account had been blocked.
Across the Americas, organizations that guide women seeking abortions in various countries are raising alarm, decrying what they see as a new wave of censorship on platforms owned by tech giant Meta.
The blocking of these organizations’ verified WhatsApp business accounts, which they use to communicate with people seeking help, has been particularly disruptive. These accounts are crucial for communicating with people seeking help, and their blockage has significantly complicated daily interactions between women and support providers.
Meta usually attributes its content blocking to policy violations, though it has acknowledged occasional mistakes. Since January, Meta changed the way it moderates content, now relying on user-generated notes “to allow more speech and reduce enforcement mistakes.” U.S. President Donald Trump has said the changes were “probably” made in response to his threats over what conservatives considered a liberal bias in fact-checking.
Among the organizations whose WhatsApp business accounts were suspended is the MSI Foundation, a network working in Mexico for 25 years. Its account was suspended in February, and the Colombian group Oriéntame, which has worked in women’s health in Colombia for decades, was labeled by Instagram as “dangerous.”
While conservatives cheered the change in Meta moderation policies, organizations helping women who seek abortions say that, even if they just apply in the U.S., they often result in over-enforcement, likely driven by Artificial Intelligence, which disproportionately flags or removes their posts — obstacles that have increased since the start of the Trump administration.
“It is not always intentional censorship, but the outcome is still more censorship for us and our partners,” said Martha Dimitratou, cofounder of Repro Uncensored, an organization that monitors digital suppression of reproductive health content.
In additional comments on Thursday, Meta rejected any link between the groups’ experiences and its policy changes.
“Our policies and enforcement regarding abortion medication-related content have not changed recently and were not part of the content moderation changes,” Meta said in a statement.
“From one day to the next they blocked communication between our users and women who need first-hand information” to address doubts or look for medical follow-up with MSI, said Araceli López-Nava, the organization’s Latin America director.
In the days after the suspension, appointments dropped 80%}
López Nava said that MSI had previously faced issues with regular WhatsApp numbers, because it’s easy to file complaints. So, the organization thought it would be different with a business account, which gives them a platform to manage the thousands of mes
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