Abortion misinformation is coming

Hi, it’s Davey in New York. The US Supreme Court has likely touched off yet another flood of misinformation for social media companies reluc [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Hi, it’s Davey in New York. The US Supreme Court has likely touched off yet another flood of misinformation for social media companies reluctant to deal with the issue. But first... Today’s must-reads: • A congressional probe found Robinhood’s woes during the meme stock era were [worse than it let on]( • A judge said that Pinterest [must face a lawsuit]( from a woman claiming she helped create it • A Peter Thiel-backed crypto exchange is cutting [hundreds of jobs]( Here we go again Major news events are always fertile ground for misinformation. That was my first thought upon hearing that the Supreme Court decided to overturn Roe v. Wade on Friday, as expected. A month ago, I [wrote]( about how misinformation had spiked in the wake of the leaked draft court ruling that signaled the court would overturn the right to abortion; in the coming weeks, I expect even more of it. Misinformation peddlers, ever the opportunists, will advance a hodgepodge of false narratives around abortion and the Supreme Court ruling on all the major tech platforms: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok, plus fringe far-right social networks like Gab, Parler, Rumble and TruthSocial. Because misinformation is often repetitive and cyclical, we have a pretty good sense of the types of rumors they will spread, too. They will exaggerate unsupported claims about a favorite bogeyman movement, Antifa—a loose collective of antifascist activists—saying there is a nationwide conspiracy to hold coordinated violent rioting around this ruling. On Friday, for the first time since Dec. 8, 2020, “Q”—the anonymous online account that set off the QAnon conspiracy movement—posted online: “Are you ready to serve your country again?” (The QAnon conspiracy falsely posits that a group of global liberal elites run a child sex ring that former President Donald J. Trump will stop, and adherents have been discussing how abortion is a form of human sacrifice.) And the types of falsehoods that have circulated about abortion for as long as the movement against a woman’s right to choose has been around in the US—which is to say, decades—will receive renewed attention on social media: the false ideas, for instance, that abortion is never needed to save a mother’s life, or that abortions[inevitably lead to mental health problems]( for women. I know this because I have covered misinformation for the past three years, and while the narrative content of the falsehoods switch in and out, depending on the news, the tactics are often very similar. Which is why it can be frustrating to be a witness to the social media platforms’ responses anytime another misinformation crisis erupts in real-time. When I asked Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok last month whether they planned to put up information centers—which the sites have done for elections and the Covid-19 pandemic—directing people to authoritative sources about abortion as a health issue, none of them said they would. Most said they would rely on their already-existing community guidelines to deal with this new issue. But the ruling being released also signals some complex decision-making for the world’s largest tech platforms as the US becomes divided into states where abortion is legal, and states where it is illegal. Companies have historically adjusted their policies to fit geographically-specific legal requirements, and thirteen states have so-called trigger laws that would automatically ban abortions—including, in some of them, laws that would punish citizens for assisting pregnant people in obtaining one. Would the companies’ operations in those states geo-block information that would allow users to access accurate information supporting an abortion decision? These are open questions that we will have to see play out over the next few weeks or months. One thing is for certain, though: abortion misinformation—a lot more of it — is about to come your way. Some of the dynamics are so well-known that it would be possible for companies to start to take some proactive steps to get ahead of the problem. What about automatically reducing the usual fear-mongering content about [pallets of bricks at protest sites]( and [“paid protesters”]( or training their focus on known abortion misinformation spreaders? Sites like Life News and Live Action have spread provably false claims about abortion safety, and not just once—they have track records, according to analysis by NewsGuard, a startup that rates the credibility of news sites. Companies may balk at appearing to be anything but politically neutral, but the truth remains the truth whatever your politics. And letting misinformation continue to spread on their platforms is not a neutral stance all by itself. —[Davey Alba](mailto:malba13@bloomberg.net) The big story Spotify’s billion-dollar bet on podcasting has yet to pay off. Popular shows like Joe Rogan, Bill Simmons, and Call Her Daddy [haven’t fixed the business](. What else you need to know Cannes Lions, the ad industry’s biggest conference, is back after a two-year hiatus with a [new heavyweight](: Amazon. Hackers looted about $100 million from a so-called [cryptocurrency bridge](, exploiting a key vulnerability in the digital-asset ecosystem. SoftBank’s former Chief Operating Officer Marcelo Claure is getting severance and incentives worth an estimated [$94 million](. The fight over sensitive data takes on new weight in a post-Roe America, a Berkeley law professor tells [Bloomberg TV](. Follow Us More from Bloomberg Dig gadgets or video games? [Sign up for Power On]( to get Apple scoops, consumer tech news and more in your inbox on Sundays. [Sign up for Game On]( to go deep inside the video game business, delivered on Fridays. Why not try both? Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights.​​​​​​​ You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Fully Charged newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. [Unsubscribe]( [Bloomberg.com]( [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022 [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( [Ad Choices](