Facebook reverses ban on women’s group post for saying men can’t be pregnant

Social media giant Facebook has backtracked on its censorship of an Australian women’s group for saying men cannot be pregnant.

Social media giant Facebook says it made a “error” in censoring an Australian independent think tank for women for saying “zero men have ever given birth”.

The US company Meta said the Facebook post was “removed in error by an automated system”, following a backlash over the censorship of the Women’s Forum Australia’s social media post

The women’s group had made the posting in the wake of a furore over The Daily Telegraph’s revelations that the word “mother” was being replaced by “birthing parent” on a newborn Medicare form.

A screenshot of a Twitter post by the new mum involved in that story, Sall Grover, was reposted on Faceboook by the women’s forum on July 22.

The “offending” tweet stated: “Exactly zero men have ever given birth in any year, in any country.”

Sall Grover, founder of Giggle. Picture: Supplied

A few days later the post was removed by Facebook and the women’s forum received an alert saying “your page is at risk of being unpublished and has reduced distribution and other restrictions due to continued Community Standards violations”.

Thinking it was a mistake — as they had never before had violations — they contacted Facebook Business Support, saying it had been incorrectly taken down.

Women's Forum Australia chief executive Rachael Wong. Picture: Supplied

But they were told the decision was not eligible for review and was final.

“As a result, we are unable to advertise, all our posts have restricted visibility for 30 days, and we remain at risk of being removed from the platform entirely,” chief executive Rachael Wong said.

“It doesn’t get much more absurd or Orwellian than this.”

She told Facebook it was wrong and inappropriate to remove content without reasons or the opportunity for review and to censor views affirming the reality of biological sex.

The Facebook post that landed the Women's Forum Australia in hot water with Facebook.

Facebook originally told the organisation that it was possible the take-down was “due to the usage of explicit words”, but now says it was an “error”.

On learning of Facebook‘s reversal of the ban after it was raised by The Daily Telegraph, Ms Wong said it was hard to believe it was simply a mistake.

“The fact that no option to review was provided in the original violation notification and that Facebook Business Support further confirmed that the decision was ‘final’, makes it hard to believe that this was simply a ‘mistake’’,” she said.

Facebook’s response about the post which

was taken down. Picture: Supplied

“Since speaking out, I have had numerous people contact me with similar stories - this kind of censorship is ongoing. Clearly it takes a bit of public shaming to get justice.”

Gold Coast mum and Giggle founder and chief executive Sall Grover led the original backlash against federal government bureaucrats last month, who had removed the word mother from official forms — a decision Services Australia Minister Bill Shorten quickly reversed.

During the debate over that issue, an online media story had claimed: “Each year in Australia, several men give birth to children. In 2014-2015, as many as 55 men gave birth, according to Medicare records.”

Ms Grover’s point about zero men giving birth was in response to that claim.

On Thursday Ms Grover condemned the censorship as “terrifying” and said people who think men can give birth had “lost” their mind.

“Men cannot get pregnant,” she said.

“I will continue to say this until it is acknowledged once again as a completely obvious non-controversial statement.

“To censor this, with a reason that suggests I am a ‘dangerous individual’ is terrifying but clearly highlights what women like Rachael and myself are fighting against.”

Originally published as Facebook reverses ban on women’s group post for saying men can’t be pregnant