Petition: Tell Facebook: Stop Spying on Abortion Seekers!

Written By Madelyn S

UltraViolet: Petition: Tell Facebook: Stop Spying on Abortion Seekers!

“A Nebraska teenager is facing criminal charges for having an abortion--and it's because Facebook turned her in.

“When local law enforcement officials suspected the teenager and her mother of acquiring abortion pills, they served Facebook with a search warrant for the teen’s private Facebook messages. Then, once Facebook handed over the messages, they used messages between the teen and her mother as proof that an abortion had taken place.

“This blatant invasion of privacy is only possible because Facebook messages are not encrypted by default. If all Facebook and Messenger messages were protected with end-to-end encryption--the way WhatsApp and Signal messages are--Facebook wouldn’t have had any incriminating evidence to share with law enforcement.

“Sign our petition demanding that Facebook make all messages encrypted by default and stop aiding the criminalization of abortion!”

Additional reading:

UltraViolet Drives Feminist Cultural & Political Change

NPR, August 12, 2022: Nebraska cops used Facebook messages to investigate an alleged illegal abortion

VICE, August 9, 2022: This Is the Data Facebook Gave Police to Prosecute a Teenager for Abortion

Madelyn S
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