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Fresh fears after Facebook's role in US abortion case
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A person looks at a Facebook logo displayed on the background in Arlington, Virginia in this file photo from Aug. 17, 2021. (AFP/Olivier Douliery)
F
acebook sparked outrage by complying with US police probing an abortion case, boosting simmering fears the platform will be a tool for clamping down on the procedure.
Criticism built after media reports revealed the social networking giant had turned over messages key to a mother being criminally charged with an abortion for her daughter.
Advocates had warned of exactly this kind of thing after America's top court revoked the national right to abortion in late June, as big tech companies hold a trove of data on users locations and behavior.
Jessica Burgess, 41, was accused of helping her 17-year-old daughter to terminate a pregnancy in the midwestern US state of Nebraska.
She faces five charges -- including one under a 2010 law which only allows abortion up to 20 weeks after fertilization.
The daughter faces three charges, including one of concealing or abandoning a corpse.
Yet Facebook owner Meta defended itself Tuesday by noting the Nebraska court order "didn't mention abortion at all", and came before the Supreme Court's highly divisive decision in June to overturn Roe v Wade, the case which conferred right to abortion in the United States.
