Norfolk, Nebraska: On Tuesday, August 9, when Forbes reported that private communications on the network had been used to sue a then 17-year-old girl for allegedly having an abortion, the hashtag “Delete Facebook” became popular. According to the story, after authorities used a search order to retrieve a teenage girl’s Facebook chats, they charged her with breaking the law by allegedly aborting a pregnancy.
Trend “Delete Facebook”
In Madison County District Court, 17-year-old Celeste Burgess and her mother Jessica Burgess are being tried as adults on suspicion of violating a state law that prohibits abortions beyond 20 weeks. In a state where abortion is banned, this is one of the first cases where someone’s behavior on Facebook has been used to sue them.
After the Norfolk Police Department learned that Celeste miscarried in April at 23 weeks pregnant and secretly buried the fetus with her mother’s help, according to the Lincoln Journal Star, Celeste and her mother were charged in July with “allegedly removing, concealing or abandoning a dead human body and concealing the death of another person. Mom and daughter have both pleaded not guilty to all allegations.
Andy Stone, a representative for Meta, posted a comment on Twitter after the story “Prior to the Supreme Court’s decision, the legitimate search warrants we obtained from local law enforcement in early June contained no reference to abortion. According to court records, authorities at the time were reviewing the case of a stillborn child who was burned and buried, not the decision to have an abortion, and the warrants were for criminal investigation charges.
Twitter immediately started the #DeleteFacebook trend after sparking a controversial discussion. Olivia Julianna, a pro-choice activist, tweeted: “Women should deactivate their Facebook accounts immediately. #DeleteFacebook”. Digital entrepreneur Sean commented, “Facebook has demonstrated that it will compromise your privacy every chance it gets #DeleteFacebook”, to which.
One user wrote, “And just when I thought Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook couldn’t get any lower, they gave Nebraska police information about a teenage girl and DMs just so they could prosecute her for have an abortion! If they haven’t already, rational women should stop using Facebook! #DeleteFacebook”.
Another person wrote: “Ladies, PLEASE AVOID POSTING PERSONAL DATA ON SOCIAL MEDIA. AVOID USING APPS TO TRACK YOUR MENSTRUAL CYCLE OR ANY OTHER PERSONAL INFORMATION. WHO HAS ACCESS TO THE INFORMATION IS UNKNOWN TO YOU. YOUR DATA IS SOLD BY THESE APPLICATION COMPANIES. #DeleteFacebook FREE APPS ARE NOT FREE”. Contrary to another user who tweeted, “So @Meta will go full force on a teenage girl, but can’t stop Russian bots, insurgents or white supremacists? #META #DeleteFacebook.
Following pressure from staff, Google said it would remove location information from users who had used the platform to search for abortion services soon after the #DeleteFacebook hashtag started trending.
