Meta baby ads are like 'a cot in your front room'

4 days ago

The government's new maternity adviser is calling on Meta to meet bereaved families left "devastated" by pregnancy-related adverts after losing their babies.

Newly appointed Michelle Welsh, Labour MP for Sherwood Forest, has written to the owner of Facebook and Instagram, urging them to better protect users from being bombarded with unwanted ads.

A BBC investigation found parents who suffered miscarriages or stillbirths continued to see adverts for baby and maternity products, days, weeks and months after their babies died.

Meta said it took "these concerns seriously", and admitted its systems were not perfect and continued to "improve the sensitivity and accuracy of how ads are delivered".

Welsh said: "These adverts are pumped at you when you've gone through the most horrendous circumstances - it's like walking through the door and someone's put a cot in your front room."

The MP said she sent a letter to Meta on 26 May calling on the social media giant to meet affected families and pledge to make it easier to stop users seeing adverts that may re-traumatise them when they are grieving their lost children.

It has also been signed by baby loss charities including Sands, Petals and Tommy's as well as the Royal College of Midwives and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

"These are good, honest, hard-working people that have gone through horrendous situations and there is a social media company trying to make a quick buck.

"That's disgusting," Welsh added.

Welsh said when she gave birth to her son William in 2020, their lives were "put at risk by a failing maternity service" at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust.

The independent inquiry, which involves about 2,500 families, began in September 2022 after allegations of harm to mothers and babies and is due to be published in June.

Welsh said she had spoken to more than 1,000 families who had been through baby loss.

"I've seen the hurt and I've taken it with me, it lives in here [my heart] with me," Welsh said.

Sammi Claxon, from Blidworth in Nottinghamshire, said she was looking for answers and support on social media after suffering a miscarriage in 2021 but was confronted with adverts on her Facebook and Instagram feeds trying to sell her baby items.

"It feels like an attack.

"You do feel ambushed and it is the last thing you want to be seeing," she said.

Sammi went on to have four more miscarriages.

"That's a lot of times to feel attacked [by] something you reach out [to] for support," she added.

Kathryn Lee, from Essex, said she wanted social media firms to be held accountable for the "insensitive" targeting she received after losing her twins - Dylan at 14 weeks and Delaney at 21 weeks in 2024.

"It was horrific... just like a stab in the stomach again," she said.

She said despite removing certain keywords in settings on her Facebook and Instagram accounts, the bombardment of content continued for months after her miscarriages.

"I didn't follow this IVF company. I didn't want to see that. I didn't follow a birth injury insurance company. I didn't want to see that.

"I started screenshoting some of the ads that I had received. I showed it to my husband, and he was just horrified," she said.

Kathryn said she had started a petition, which has received 400 signatures, to try to hold social media companies to account.

In a statement, Meta said: "We take these concerns seriously and continue to improve the sensitivity and accuracy of how ads are delivered.

"Our systems are designed to share the most relevant and useful content, but they aren't perfect and some ads may occasionally appear inconsiderate or out of place.

"As we continue to refine our models, we encourage people to opt out of certain categories."

Meta has said Facebook users can block ads on topics they do not wish to see in their settings.

There is no separate category for pregnancy or maternity but there is a special topic category of parenting.

However, Kathryn said she tried everything to stop "intrusive" adverts but updating her settings or clicking on mark as spam buttons did not prevent baby adverts popping up on her feeds weeks after a miscarriage.

MP Welsh, who is also the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on maternity, said it was a prime example of social media companies prioritising profit over people and said resolving the issue was a matter of "digital dignity".

Sammi added she wanted Meta and other companies to help families like hers and change how ads were delivered.

"We're not asking for a lot, it's not a lot to actually listen to what we're saying.

"We're just trying to make things easier for these families who are going through this heartache. They should feel supported - not let down," she said.

• If you have been affected by any of the issues in this story, you can find information and support via the BBC Action Line