Labour MP Emily Darlington has called out social media giants for allegedly 'shadow banning' content related to women's health, leading a backbench business debate in Parliament on May 20, 2026. Platforms such as Facebook and Instagram stand accused of removing posts on menstrual and sexual health after wrongly classifying them as 'adult content'. This practice, often described as 'shadow banning', involves hiding or restricting legitimate content without explicit removal.
Evidence of Censorship
Evidence gathered by hygiene and health firm Essity, which owns brands including Bodyform, TENA, and Modibodi, shows that women's health topics are more than three times as likely to be suppressed on social media than men's health topics. In a pilot study, influencer Aly Boghici (known as allmumstalk) posted about menopause, pain during sex, and vaginal dryness, and found those posts reached 66% fewer non-followers than her usual Instagram content. In contrast, her husband Justin (alldadstalk) shared content on men's health issues such as erectile dysfunction and testosterone imbalance, and saw only a 16% drop in reach.
Engagement Disparities
The study revealed significant differences in engagement rates. Aly experienced a 69% drop in comments, while Justin saw a 76% increase. Additional posts by Aly on periods, heavy bleeding, and endometriosis received 25% fewer views, whereas Justin's posts on taboo topics like testicular pain and thrush saw 34% more views from non-followers.
Essity also reported that its Bodyform brand had its 'Vaginas Uncensored' campaign blocked 22 times in one month across X, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Content was inaccurately labelled as 'sexual' despite using proper anatomical terms. For instance, an advert using the words 'menstrual cycle' and featuring a sanitary towel and blood was rejected by Meta, which demanded an 18+ warning, even though millions of women under 18 menstruate.
Call for Accountability
Emily Darlington, Labour MP for Milton Keynes Central, branded the censorship 'shameful' and said: 'It is shameful that legitimate women's health content is still being hidden, restricted or deprioritised by big tech. This debate will examine growing evidence from Essity and other campaigners showing that content relating to menstruation, fertility, menopause and vaginal health continues to be unfairly censored on social media platforms. Big tech companies must explain why this is happening and what action they are taking to stop women and girls being unfairly silenced online.'
Kate Prince, speaking for Essity, added: 'We want to work with social media platforms and the government to find a solution that protects women and girls from online harm, while also ensuring they can speak openly about their bodies and health. The renewed Women's Health Strategy acknowledges misinformation or poor-quality information could be impacting women's health outcomes. But we feel the equally important issue of censorship is still being ignored by the government – and this is having a direct impact on how women are able to source health advice, tips and support. We want there to be more accountability, better alignment and active testing of solutions – including the introduction of cross-government working groups bringing together DSIT, DHSC, DCMS and relevant regulators, to examine how platform moderation practices affect women's access to health information.'
