MEAWW.COM / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

Why is 'Delete Facebook' trending? Mark Zuckerberg blasted after FB alerts cops to abortion

Facebook turned over the chats of a mother-daughter duo to Nebraska police after they were served with a search warrant as part of an investigation into an illegal abortion

NORFOLK, NEBRASKA: The hashtag "Delete Facebook" went viral on Tuesday, August 9, after Forbes reported that private messages on the platform were used to prosecute a then-17-year-old girl for allegedly having an abortion. As per the report, a Nebraska teenager is facing criminal charges for allegedly aborting a fetus in violation of state law after authorities obtained her Facebook messages using a search warrant.

Celeste Burgess, 17, is being tried as an adult alongside her mother Jessica Burgess in Madison County District Court on charges that they violated a Nebraska law prohibiting abortions after 20 weeks. This is one of the first cases where a person's Facebook activity has been used to indict her in a state where abortion is illegal.

RELATED ARTICLES

#EmmanuelDontDoIt: Naughty emu takes social media by storm as it videobombs farmer Taylor Blake's videos

'It's gross': Millie Bobby Brown slams social media for SEXUALIZING her more after she turned 18'

Celeste and her mother were charged in July with "allegedly removing, concealing, or abandoning a dead human body and concealing the death of another person" after the Norfolk Police Department received information that Celeste miscarried in April at 23 weeks of pregnancy and secretly buried the fetus with the help of her mother as reported by the Lincoln Journal Star. Both mom and daughter have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Following the report, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said in a statement on Twitter that "Nothing in the valid warrants we received from local law enforcement in early June, prior to the Supreme Court decision, mentioned abortion. The warrants concerned charges related to a criminal investigation and court documents indicate that police at the time were investigating the case of a stillborn baby who was burned and buried, not a decision to have an abortion."

#Delete Facebook quickly became trending on Twitter as it spurred a heated debate on Twitter. Pro-choice activist Olivia Julianna tweeted, "Every woman should delete Facebook right now. #DeleteFacebook". To which digital startegist Sean responded, "Facebook has shown they will compromise your privacy at any chance they get #DeleteFacebook".

A user wrote, "And just when I thought Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook couldn't go any lower, they gave the Nebraska Police a teen's information and DMs just so they can prosecute her for getting an abortion! Sane woman should leave Facebook if they haven't already done so! #DeleteFacebook".

Another user wrote, "Ladies, DO NOT POST PERSONAL INFORMATION ON ANY SOCIAL MEDIA. DO NOT USE APPS TO TRACK YOUR MENSTRUAL CYCLE OR ANYTHING ELSE PERSONAL. YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHO HAS ACCESS TO THE INFORMATION. THOSE APP COMPANIES SELL YOUR DATA. FREE APPS ARE NOT FREE!! #DeleteFacebook". While one user wrote, "So @Meta will go full force against a teenage girl, but can’t shut down Russian bots, insurrectionists, or white supremacists? #META #DeleteFacebook".

Soon after #Delete Facebook started trending, Google announced that it would delete location data of users who had used the platform to look up abortion services after pressure from employees.