House Democrats are urging X owner Elon Musk and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg to address abortion “misinformation” on social media platforms.
Letters sent to the social media owners call for Musk and Zuckerburg to address their concerns by December 14.
Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) led the Committee on Oversight and Accountability letter, writing, “We are troubled by the rapid spread of abortion misinformation and disinformation on your company’s social media platform X, and the threat this development poses to safe abortion access in the United States.”
The letter to Musk alleged that “individuals and groups that are anti-choice are promoting dangerously inaccurate medical information and false content about abortion online, including on X. This flood of abortion misinformation and disinformation seeks to discourage people from getting abortion care and services by offering them bad medical advice. As abortion misinformation and disinformation surge online, patients can come to doubt their health care institutions, their doctors, and themselves—putting their own health and safety at risk.”
In their letter to Zuckerburg, the representatives wrote, “[C]risis pregnancy centers and anti-abortion advocates frequently use Facebook and Meta to push advertisements and posts about services like abortion pill reversal. Between January 2020 and September 2021 alone, Facebook accepted between $115,400 and $140,667 for 92 advertisements promoting abortion pill reversal up to 18.4 million times. Your company’s decision to keep these posts visible seems at odds with your Community Standards and Advertising Standards empowering you to block misinformation and misleading advertisements within your platform.”
“To ensure that misinformation and disinformation does not further undermine the ability of people to obtain abortion care, we urge you to take immediate action to combat the spread of abortion misinformation on [your platforms] in all languages. Please also provide a briefing to Committee staff regarding the steps your company plans to take to address abortion misinformation,” the committee members concluded.
The letters come as the Biden administration’s National Science Foundation (NSF) and State Department have granted over $4 million to programs combatting “misinformation.”
