Reversal of Roe v. Wade sparks influx of abortion misinformation on social media

In the 100 days following the Supreme Court’s ruling overturning the right to abortion, ISD has followed the spread of mis- and disinformation about abortion healthcare on mainstream social media platforms, that in some cases are monetizing off of this content. A new article in Axios highlights ISD’s research on abortion-related misinformation leading up to the US Supreme Court’s decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in late June.

ISD shared with Axios our upcoming report focusing on the 100 days since the decision. They reiterated the importance of securing access to reliable information by quoting ISD: “Policies that do exist (under health misinformation policies, policies against graphic imagery, etc.) are not properly enforced when it comes to abortion-related content.”

In our findings, we cite the promotion of false information around medication abortion and other procedures, including the so-called ‘reversal’ treatment. ISD found a total of 1,138 posts on Meta-owned platforms, posted by 559 unique accounts with a combined following of 58 million.

Other narratives that were found on social media included comparisons of abortion to tragedies, genocide or the Holocaust.

Findings from this article are available in Spanish on Telemundo, one of the leading Spanish-language outlets in the US.

The full report highlighting the state of online abortion misinformation in the 100 days after the ruling was later published on October 24th, 2022.