U.S (UltraViolet) : FACEBOOK must stop SPYING on ABORTION SEEKERS.

 

 

 

Dear friend,

 

A Nebraska teenager is facing criminal charges for having an abortion--and it's because Facebook turned her in.

When local law enforcement officials suspected the teenager and her mother of acquiring abortion pills, they served Facebook with a search warrant for the teen's private Facebook messages. Then, once Facebook handed over the messages, they used the communication between the teen and her mother as proof that an abortion had taken place.¹

This blatant invasion of privacy is only possible because Facebook messages are not encrypted by default. If all Facebook and Messenger messages were protected with end-to-end encryption--the way WhatsApp and Signal messages are--Facebook wouldn't have had any incriminating evidence to share with law enforcement. Facebook needs to act now. 

 

Sign the petition : Facebook must make all messages encrypted by default and stop aiding the criminalization of abortion.

Sign the petition

 

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is well aware that making end-to-end encryption the default would go a long way toward protecting Facebook users. In a staff meeting earlier this summer, he said that expanding encryption on the platform will "keep people safe."² Popular message apps such as Signal and Meta-owned WhatsApp already use end-to-end encryption, and Messenger should as well.

As of this week, Facebook is reportedly testing making end-to-end encryption the default for all users--but users need immediate implementation, not more testing of a proven, safe tool. With the growing threat to abortion access around the country, and because many states have already enacted bans and severe restrictions since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, we need Facebook to expedite its timeline and immediately implement default encryption.

 

Sign our petition demanding that Facebook must make all messages encrypted by default and stop aiding the criminalization of abortion.

 

Thanks for speaking out !

 

 

Kathy, Shaunna, Sonja, Melody, Lindsay, Kimberly, Maria, Elisa, KaeLyn, KD, Iris, Bridget, Katie, Isatou, Meena, Jaya, Luna, and Toni, the UltraViolet team .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sources :

 

 

 

1. US teenager arrested for abortion after Facebook handed her private messages to police, Cosmopolitan, August 12, 2022

2. Facebook's Message Encryption Was Built to Fail, Wired, August 10, 2022

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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