labourlist.org – Women’s health has always been marginalised, questioned, deprioritised. Victorian doctors dismissed women’s distress as ‘the vapours’ leaving space for quacks to prescribe dangerous remedies.
Today, Big Tech firms see fit to ‘downrank’ content related to female health on the weird and spurious grounds that it uses anatomically correct terms. Again, leaving the way clear for grifters and scammers to take advantage of, and even endanger, women.
This shadow banning is nothing shy of Big Tech sexism. It has to be addressed.
This week I brought together activists and parliamentarians to understand the scale of this new iteration of an age-old problem and to seek solutions.
The Big Tech companies – TikTok, Meta which owns Facebook and Instagram, Google and X – are all aware of this issue. We must make them understand the damage it is doing and urge them to fix it. They have the money and the expertise, they only lack the will.
And it is a clear and growing problem.
Earlier this year Essity – owners of period product brands like Bodyform and ModiBodi – surveyed 4000 adults on the issue. Nearly two thirds of all respondents said they look online for health advice, and half cited social media as an important source of health and wellbeing education.
The same study revealed many find it difficult to source information on women’s health topics in the places they are active.
The highest proportion was among the youngest – 34% of 18-24-year-olds said it was difficult to source information on women’s health topics via social media.
They found that 77 % of 18–34-year-olds were aware of “shadow banning”, defined as posts being restricted, hidden or de-prioritised without explanation. That practice is impeding their approach to health and wellbeing.
When women’s health terms such as “periods”, “menopause”, “vagina” or “endometriosis” are used, posts may be mis-flagged as adult or sexual content and thereby receive dramatically lower reach …
