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We’re talking about posts promoting prescription medications. There were always strict rules about this on Facebook (banned by default) and the fact that most o

We’re talking about posts promoting prescription medications. There were always strict rules about this on Facebook (banned by default) and the fact that most of these posts ever stayed up was more likely a result of oversight and possibly politics in the first place. You certainly don’t see almost anything about other prescription meds. https://www.facebook.com/business/help/263390265553560?id=434838534925385 https://www.facebook.com/business/help/263390265553560?id=43... I find it very doubtful that post-election Meta policy had anything to do with this.

ceejayoz 2y ago
> "The company restored some of the accounts and posts on Thursday, after The New York Times asked about the actions." It would appear the posts were OK after all. > You certainly don’t see almost anything about other prescription meds. I get pretty much non-stop Ozempic ads on Facebook. > "Aid Access, one of the largest abortion pill providers in the United States, said some posts were removed on its Facebook account and blurred out on its Instagram account since November, with more posts blurred in recent days. The abortion pill service said it has been blocked from accessing its Facebook account since November, and its Instagram account was suspended last week, though it has since been restored." You don't think the November timing is the slightest bit suspicious?
- Amezarak 2y ago
  No, I don’t. To regard it as suspicious I would have to know: - Has this happened before? - are they actually compliant with the rules? Or are they being banned and then unbanned because we’re sympathetic to them? - was anyone mass reporting them? Was this human or automatic? - how often are these things banned? It’s really a miracle most of these outfits are operating at all. In most cases we’re talking about filling out an anonymous form to get prescription medication. It’s not legal. Some of them try to provide a form of legality as a cover (“we definitely have a doctor review your anonymous form”) but not anything that would hold up to scrutiny. It’s not surprising that very few of them are likely following Facebooks rules on top of that. Of course maybe they should be legal and the situation should be totally different, but Facebook banning grey market prescription drug sellers that almost certainly violate their rules is not surprising. It’s also not surprising they ease up when the NYT asks about it even if there are rule violations because I doubt Meta wants any part of this debate.
  - ceejayoz 2y ago
    > In most cases we’re talking about filling out an anonymous form to get prescription medication. Best of luck shipping pills to "nobody".
    - vasco 2y ago
      How is that hard? You just need an address, doesn't even have to be yours.
      - ceejayoz 2y ago
        And a payment method and/or insurance details And you have to pick it up. If my address was listed next to my posts on Reddit, I would not feel super anonymous.
        vasco 2y ago
        I'm not in the US and familiar with this but your comment seemed too different from the other guy's so I went to check. One of the first results in Google is https://www.plancpills.org/abortion-pill/california#pharmacies https://www.plancpills.org/abortion-pill/california#pharmaci... Listed there I checked some of their recommended stores. The first that I clicked accept Bitcoin payment and require no insurance details (medside24). It does look like it's possible to do this fully anonymous without much hassle. I have no problem with that by the way.
        xethos 2y ago
        Oh good, an unalterable ledger stating the wallet associated with you paid for an abortion medication. Good thing the US is in a social headspace where none of us believe that that will be made retroactively illegal. Bitcoin is absolutely not anonymous. To believe otherwise is a grave error.
        vasco 2y ago
reverendsteveii 2y ago
Having trouble getting past the paywall. Can you confirm that these were posts directly promoting the prescription drugs, or were other posts by this organization also hidden?

ceejayoz 2y ago

> "The company restored some of the accounts and posts on Thursday, after The New York Times asked about the actions." It would appear the posts were OK after all. > You certainly don’t see almost anything about other prescription meds. I get pretty much non-stop Ozempic ads on Facebook. > "Aid Access, one of the largest abortion pill providers in the United States, said some posts were removed on its Facebook account and blurred out on its Instagram account since November, with more posts blurred in recent days. The abortion pill service said it has been blocked from accessing its Facebook account since November, and its Instagram account was suspended last week, though it has since been restored." You don't think the November timing is the slightest bit suspicious?

Amezarak 2y ago
No, I don’t. To regard it as suspicious I would have to know: - Has this happened before? - are they actually compliant with the rules? Or are they being banned and then unbanned because we’re sympathetic to them? - was anyone mass reporting them? Was this human or automatic? - how often are these things banned? It’s really a miracle most of these outfits are operating at all. In most cases we’re talking about filling out an anonymous form to get prescription medication. It’s not legal. Some of them try to provide a form of legality as a cover (“we definitely have a doctor review your anonymous form”) but not anything that would hold up to scrutiny. It’s not surprising that very few of them are likely following Facebooks rules on top of that. Of course maybe they should be legal and the situation should be totally different, but Facebook banning grey market prescription drug sellers that almost certainly violate their rules is not surprising. It’s also not surprising they ease up when the NYT asks about it even if there are rule violations because I doubt Meta wants any part of this debate.
- ceejayoz 2y ago
  > In most cases we’re talking about filling out an anonymous form to get prescription medication. Best of luck shipping pills to "nobody".
  - vasco 2y ago
    How is that hard? You just need an address, doesn't even have to be yours.
    - ceejayoz 2y ago
      And a payment method and/or insurance details And you have to pick it up. If my address was listed next to my posts on Reddit, I would not feel super anonymous.
      - vasco 2y ago
        I'm not in the US and familiar with this but your comment seemed too different from the other guy's so I went to check. One of the first results in Google is https://www.plancpills.org/abortion-pill/california#pharmacies https://www.plancpills.org/abortion-pill/california#pharmaci... Listed there I checked some of their recommended stores. The first that I clicked accept Bitcoin payment and require no insurance details (medside24). It does look like it's possible to do this fully anonymous without much hassle. I have no problem with that by the way.
        xethos 2y ago
        Oh good, an unalterable ledger stating the wallet associated with you paid for an abortion medication. Good thing the US is in a social headspace where none of us believe that that will be made retroactively illegal. Bitcoin is absolutely not anonymous. To believe otherwise is a grave error.
        vasco 2y ago

reverendsteveii 2y ago

Having trouble getting past the paywall. Can you confirm that these were posts directly promoting the prescription drugs, or were other posts by this organization also hidden?