Meta Defends Cooperation With Nebraska Police in Abortion Case

Meta defended its cooperation with law enforcement over data Nebraska police are using to charge a mother and her teenage daughter for the teen’s abortion in April. Jessica Burgess and her 17-year-old daughter, Celeste, were reportedly charged in June after the mother helped the daughter abort, burn and bury a fetus. Celeste was reportedly 23 weeks pregnant at the time of the abortion, and state law, which has remained unchanged since the Roe v. Wade reversal, prohibits abortion after 20 weeks. The Norfolk Police Department, using a search warrant, obtained direct Facebook messages between the two about the use of abortion pills. Legislators and privacy advocates have raised concerns about law enforcement using digital data against individuals seeking abortion (see 2207220053). Much of the reporting in the case is “plain wrong,” Meta said in a statement Tuesday: The company received valid legal warrants June 7, prior to the Supreme Court decision. The warrants didn’t mention “abortion at all,” the company said. “Court documents indicate that police were at that time investigating the alleged illegal burning and burial of a stillborn infant. The warrants were accompanied by non-disclosure orders, which prevented us from sharing information about them. The orders have now been lifted.”