What is digital suppression
and how are we doing something about it?
Digital suppression refers to intentional or unintentional actions limiting access to information, stifling certain voices, and perpetuating inequalities online. While digital suppression can take many forms, some of the most common include biased algorithms, censorship, online harassment, and unequal access to technology. As our everyday lives become ever more entangled with technology and the web, digital suppression can significantly influence individuals, groups, and societal issues.
For example, Meta and other platforms have rejected ads for topics including menopause, pelvic pain, menstrual health, pregnancy, and other topics supporting women and people with uteruses.
Issues related to the sexual and reproductive health of women and people of diverse genders have long been overlooked, but CIJ is putting an end to it. Read more about how we’ve combatted digital suppression below.
January - February 2022
CIJ’s report was taken on by the US Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee, which wrote a public letter to Meta demanding answers. Hilary Clinton tweeted on this after CIJ’s report.
May 2023
CIJ’s research was raised in a US Senate hearing by Senator Mazie Hirono.
July 2023
CIJ, with our lawyers at Harvard Cyberlaw Clinic, announced we’d filed a legal complaint with the US Federal Trade Commission regarding Meta blocking women’s sexual health ads. 5 Congress members (including former US Presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar) wrote a public letter to the FTC in support, which The Washington Post, CNN, and other major networks covered. Thousands of people signed our anti-suppression petition.
January 2022
CIJ published an investigation in The New York Times (100+ outlets featured CIJ’s report subsequently) revealing that 100% of the 60 women’s health companies CIJ studied experienced Meta rejecting their ads, and 50% had accounts suspended by Meta.
October 2022
CIJ observed that Meta revised 2 of its Global Ad Policies that deal with women’s health, stating more examples of sexual health ads would be allowed. These newly added examples matched the examples of women’s sexual health ads that CIJ had flagged as rejected. (In practice, Meta is still rejecting these same categories).
June 2023
CIJ led private stakeholder meetings with Meta and TikTok at RightsCon, an international tech and human rights convening, and led a highly popular workshop on digital suppression.