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CV NEWS FEED // Social media giant Meta recently restored the accounts of two pro-life activists after the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) sent a letter pressuring Meta to stop weaponizing its content policies.
ADF reported that Meta banned the accounts of LifeNews and the organization’s CEO Steve Ertelt. The company also banned the account of potential adoptive mom Abby Covington. Meta controls the social media sites Instagram and Facebook.
None of the accounts had posted graphic images of abortion. ADF Senior Counsel Phil Sechler, director of the ADF Center for Free Speech, described their content as spreading “family-friendly and life-affirming messages.”
The ban on Ertelt and LifeNews came after Ertelt reposted a LifeNews video of a C-section on Facebook in May 2024.
The caption read, “An unborn baby can’t be just a clump of cells when he or she is grabbing the doctor’s hand.”
Later that day, Ertelt was unable to log back into his account, which had been suspended due to “child sexual exploitation.” When he tried to appeal the suspension, both his Facebook and Instagram accounts were suspended. Since he operates the LifeNews accounts, these accounts were also suspended.
“Facebook should not have suspended our accounts for posting a pro-life medical video. And it should not have taken eight months and a letter from attorneys for Facebook and Instagram to finally restore access to our accounts,” Ertelt stated. “But this is an example of the kind of censorship and discrimination pro-life conservatives have come to expect from Facebook over the years. With its recent changes, we hope Facebook will truly allow free speech on its platforms.”
The other account holder, Covington, operates a page called “Austin & Abby Adopt—Covington Family Adoption Journey,” where she spoke about her Christian and pro-life beliefs. In November 2024, she created a post reaching out to pregnant mothers who are making an adoption plan.
She deleted the post after users harassed her for her pro-life beliefs. However, Facebook deleted her entire account, stating that it violated their “human exploitation” standards.
Meta lifted their ban on each of the accounts shortly after CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced significant changes to company policies, including policies that restricted free speech.
“Restoring pro-life speech to one of the world’s largest platforms is a major step in the right direction,” Sechler stated.
He later added, “There’s no doubt that Mark Zuckerberg and Meta have plenty of work ahead to build back trust with the public, but correcting these past mistakes will go a long way to do just that.”
