‘They made us feel like pregnancy was a bad word’: How Meta is ‘silencing’ adverts on women’s health and wellbeing
It was claimed that posts about pregnancy, menopause and infertility were “muted” by Meta, and advertisements for products such as pregnancy pillows were blocked from the site without a valid reason.
BellaMoon and Hertility are among the companies that claim Meta, TikTok and Google are blocking posts and ads about women’s health and lifestyle products, allowing similar posts about men’s health issues to grow.
BellaMoon, a small Irish brand, was first blocked by Meta in January after the site reclassified its flagship product, a pregnancy pillow, as a medical device. CEO Irene Breen said the company has removed the word “pregnancy” from all its advertising. Independent: “They made us feel that pregnancy was a bad word.”
In January 2025, Meta introduced new health categories and added restrictions to prevent advertisers from sharing information that is not allowed under Meta’s terms. This information includes sensitive health data.
But femtech companies, which are interested in technology products that address women’s health and well-being, claim that the new rules disproportionately “censor” women’s health content.
They have repeatedly accused the platforms of “systemic bias and discrimination” and said the issue has had a “catastrophic” impact on their revenue, with one company’s founder having to seek counseling to help cope with intense stress.
Meta claims that it has given “vague and inconsistent” reasons for repeatedly blocking, removing and restricting women’s health-related content, but that ads related to men’s health (such as erectile dysfunction and sperm testing) continue to appear on the same platforms.
A Meta spokesperson said its policies “have always prohibited advertisers from sharing sensitive information” and that these measures “do not prevent these organizations from serving ads.”
‘We spent more than £100,000 on extra advertising’
BellaMoon said its ads were first blocked after the business was reclassified as a medical “condition” advertiser. This “misclassification” treated the product as if it were a regulated medical device, which the company categorically denied.
“The rug has been pulled from under our feet,” CEO Irene Breen said Independent. “They took the word pregnancy out of the ads. They destroyed our entire business by doing that. It was a huge blow to the stomach.”
BellaMoon was told to make changes to its website and then reapply to Meta for review within 30 days.
The company took “drastic measures” to make changes in the direction it wanted to see; removed the words “pregnancy” and “breastfeeding” from the product names and replaced them with “3-in-1 pillow”. In a desperate attempt to regain Meta’s advertising approval, they “scrubbed” all of their URLs to remove the word “pregnancy”, even though they knew this would severely impact their online visibility.
But the company continued to be rejected without justification, dealing with an autoresponder loop, with all questions to Meta remaining “unanswered”.
In the ten months since its accounts were suspended, the company had invested over £100,000 in ineffective advertising spend that was not reaching relevant audiences. Their traffic from meta ads dropped from 70 percent to 20 percent, and their revenue took a “tremendous” hit.
“It felt like a disaster,” Ms. Breen said. “They made us feel like pregnancy was a bad word. We were silenced and made to feel like we were doing something wrong.”
The company is now in “survival mode” as they desperately try to build a world where they can operate without Meta to survive. Ms Breen said staff had been placed on leave due to acute stress and had to seek counseling to recover from the “trauma” of the ordeal.
‘We are being punished by the algorithm’
Hertility, an MHRA-regulated brand that sells at-home hormone and fertility tests, was reclassified as a “health and wellness” advertiser by Meta in February this year, with no explanation or objection process.
This reclassification blocked ads that previously reached 600,000 women per month. Advertisements for male hormone and sexual health services and testosterone tests continue to appear on online platforms.
The brand experienced a 40 percent traffic drop and lost access to hundreds of thousands of users per month.
“We are being punished by the algorithm,” said Deirdre O’Neill, co-founder of Hertility. “There’s a bias here. We’re being erased.”
Ms O’Neill said Independent The “biggest disappointment” is felt when you see what is allowed to be advertised on Meta regarding men’s health. “Sperm testing is fine but egg testing is not; it’s clearly unfair.”
In another example, Meta classifies erectile dysfunction as a health problem but allows advertising for the treatment. Meanwhile, it has repeatedly blocked ads and posts about a product that helps increase women’s libido, citing its policy banning the promotion of “sexual pleasure or enhancement.”
One ad restricted under this policy said: “Finally a natural libido booster… A natural gynecologically designed supplement perfect for menopause.”
Advertising for male libido therapy was allowed and included the following statement: “Tired of performance anxiety ruining your erections? We’ve helped over 500,000 men overcome erection problems… ‘I’ve noticed I’m more confident about sex. It’s almost like I’m 18 again.’
Clio Wood, co-founder of CensHERship, said: “To Meta, this seems like a small, personalized issue. But our data shows that this is a systemic problem, one of many.”
A. Latest survey by CensHERship It said 95 percent of women’s health creators experienced censorship in the past year, and more than half now self-censor their language to avoid being removed from social media platforms.
Anna O’Sullivan, co-founder of CensHERship, said they believe a lawsuit involving Flo Health, which operates period tracking app Flo, has made online platforms “really sensitive about the sharing of women’s health data”.
In September, Google and Flo Health were ordered to pay $56 million (£43 million) to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging they violated the privacy of millions of Flo app users by collecting information about menstrual health cycles and using it for targeted advertising.
Facebook and Meta Platforms, the parent company of Instagram, were unable to reach an agreement and were found liable by a jury on August 4 after a two-week trial.
But rather than precisely targeting bad practices, Ms O’Sullivan claims they are “suppressing legitimate advertising for legitimate products that women need”.
She added: “How can we own these conversations about our bodies when we’re being punished?”
In March 2025, CensHERship and blended finance investment firm The Case for Her lodged a formal complaint with Ofcom and the EU’s Digital Services Act, calling on regulators to investigate.
After being approached for comment, TikTok contacted Hertility to provide clarification on the policy, and the advertising team reinstated four of Hertility’s videos following review.
A Meta spokesperson said: “Meta’s terms and policies have always prohibited advertisers from sharing sensitive information, including health data, and we have safeguards in place designed to help prevent advertisers from sharing such information.
“These measures did not prevent these organizations from serving ads; they limited the ability to share potentially sensitive information with Meta. Advertisers can request a review if they believe their data source category is inappropriate, and we are working directly with these organizations to provide further guidance.”
A Google spokesperson said: “We have long allowed ads for fertility treatments and services in most countries. We have certain protections in place to ensure advertisers don’t target people based on sensitive health information, including women’s health ads.”
