Instagram is blocking posts that mention abortion from public view, in some cases requiring users to confirm their age before letting them view posts offering information about the procedure.
Over the last day, several abortion advocacy Instagram pages have found their posts or stories were hidden with a warning that described the posts as "sensitive content." A half-dozen other posts were identified that mentioned the word "abortion" and were subsequently covered up by Instagram. All of the posts were informational in nature, and none of the posts featured photos of abortions.
In one example, Instagram covered a post on one page with more than 25,000 followers that shared text reading: “Abortion in America How You Can Help.” The post went on to encourage followers to donate money to abortion organizations and to protest the Supreme Court’s decision to strip constitutional protections for abortion in the U.S., the Associated Press reported.
“We’re hearing that people around the world are seeing our ‘sensitivity screens,’ on many different types of content when they shouldn’t be. We’re looking into this bug and working on a fix now,” Instagram tweeted.