Meta the parent company of Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and WhatsApp has reportedly disabled or shadow-banned the accounts of more than 50 abortion providers, queer organizations, and reproductive healthcare organizations around the world over the past few months. What an advocate described as one of the biggest waves of censorship on the companys platforms began in October and appears to be an escalation of Metas Trump-era approach to abortion and LGBTQ+ related content, The Guardian reports. Related Mark Zuckerberg taps anti-LGBTQ+ activist to advise Meta on AI bias While many of the organizations whose accounts were removed or restricted are based in the U.K. and Europe, groups serving women in Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East have also been affected.Metas alleged actions come nearly a year after The Guardian reported on the companys shadow-banning (severely limiting the number of users who can see certain accounts content) of accounts of organizations that help Americans access abortion pills. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today This past October, Paige Collings with Electronic Freedom Foundation told The Bay Area Reporter that censorship of LGBTQ+ content on Instagram has noticeably increased since November 2024. She described the company as engaging in algorithmic silencing of LGBTQ+ content on Instagram.Within this last year, especially since the new US presidency, we have seen a definite increase in accounts being taken down not only in the US, but also worldwide as a ripple effect, Martha Dimitratou, executive director of nonprofit Repro Uncensored, told The Guardian. The organization has tracked over 200 instances of accounts related to reproductive health being removed or restricted in all of 2025 compared to the 81 it tracked in 2024.This has been, to my knowledge, at least one of the biggest waves of censorship we are seeing, Dimitratou said. In a statement, Meta pushed back on accusations that it is targeting specific content on its platforms. Every organization and individual on our platforms is subject to the same set of rules, and any claims of enforcement based on group affiliation or advocacy are baseless, the statement read. Our policies and enforcement regarding abortion medication-related content have not changed: we allow posts and ads promoting healthcare services like abortion, as well as discussion and debate around them, as long as they follow our policies. But as Kinga Jelinska, executive director of Netherlands-based nonprofit Women Help Women, noted, Meta rarely specifies which policies have been violated or how. Women Help Women received a message from the company in November stating that its Facebook page had been shut down because it does not follow our Community Standards on prescription drugs.They just removed it. Thats it. We dont even know which post it was about, Jelinska said.Meta claimed that over half of the accounts tracked by Repro Uncensored have been reinstated. Carolina Are, a fellow at Northumbria Universitys Centre for Digital Citizens, told The Guardian that the claim fits Metas pattern of reinstating accounts following public pressure. However, Are criticized the companys appeals process for banned accounts, which Meta itself admitted has become frustratingly slow.For example, a Meta employee sent a personal message to one affected organization saying bans would likely continue and advising them to start a mailing list rather than rely on the companys platforms.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.