The women taking Meta to task after their baby loss

"As soon as you get that positive test, you feel like a mother," Sammi says. "You have this future plan in your head and when that's stripped away from you, it's awful." Feelings of shame and embarrassment left Sammi feeling isolated. She turned to social media for support, and remembers seeing her feed littered with baby-related adverts, which for her were devastating. Sammi, from Blidworth in Nottinghamshire, ended up taking herself off social media, she says to preserve her mental health."

"Like Sammi, Tanya O'Carroll was hit with targeted adverts from Facebook when she discovered she was pregnant in 2017. "I just found it unnerving - this was before I'd even told people in my private life," she told the BBC. In March, after Tanya filed a lawsuit, Facebook agreed to stop targeting adverts at an individual user using personal data. Tanya's lawsuit argued Facebook's targeted advertising system was covered by the UK's definition of direct marketing, giving individuals the right to object."

"What does my baby look like at six weeks? When's my due date? When should I book my first midwife appointment? These are just some questions women type into search engines when they find out they're pregnant. For Sammi Claxon, it was no different. Soon after she started searching for answers, algorithms picked up that she was pregnant, and began targeting her with adverts. But when she lost her baby due to a miscarriage, the adverts didn't stop."

When women search pregnancy-related questions, algorithms begin targeting them with adverts that can persist after pregnancy loss. Persistent adverts after miscarriages caused distress, shame, and social isolation for affected women, prompting some to leave social media to protect mental health. One woman experienced five miscarriages between 2021 and 2024 and removed herself from platforms. Another woman sued Facebook arguing that targeted adverts met the UK's definition of direct marketing; Meta countered that ads target groups of at least 100 people, the ICO disagreed, and Meta agreed to stop using that woman's personal data for direct marketing. The case raises privacy, mental-health, and regulatory concerns.

Read at www.bbc.com