Current Events > Facebook gave Nebraska cops access to teen's DMs so they could prosecute her...

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A Nebraska teenager is facing criminal charges alleging she aborted a fetus in violation of state law, after authorities obtained her Facebook messages using a search warrant. Seventeen-year-old Celeste Burgess, who is being tried as an adult along with her mother Jessica Burgess, is awaiting trial in Madison County District Court on charges that they broke a Nebraska law banning abortions after 20 weeks.

This marks one of the first instances of a persons Facebook activity being used to incriminate her in a state where abortion access is restricted a scenario that has remained largely hypothetical in the weeks following the US Supreme Courts decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Nebraska currently outlaws abortions beyond 20 weeks. On Monday, Republican lawmakers in the state failed to secure enough votes to decrease that window to 12 weeks.

Celeste and her mother were charged in July with allegedly removing, concealing or abandoning a dead human body and concealing the death of another person after the Norfolk Police Department received a tip claiming Celeste had miscarried in April at 23 weeks of pregnancy and secretly buried the fetus with her mother's help. The case was first reported by the Lincoln Journal Star.

While Celeste told police that she had suffered a miscarriage, they continued to investigate, serving Facebook with a search warrant to access Celeste and Jessicas Facebook accounts. They subsequently found messages between the mother and daughter allegedly detailing how Celeste had undergone a self-managed abortion with Jessicas help. There are four states that ban abortion at 24 weeks, and more than a dozen that broadly ban it at the start of fetal viability.

Andy Stone, a Policy Communications Director at Facebook, acknowledged a request for comment but said he could not immediately confirm any details about the incident.

A month before Celeste was charged, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook parent Meta, was asked by employees how the company will protect those seeking abortions. Zuckerberg replied that efforts to expand encryption across the platform will keep people safe, CyberScoop reported. In May, Metas VP of HR, Janelle Gale, told employees they were not allowed to discuss abortion at work, according to the Verge. The company later announced that it will reimburse employees who find they must travel to a different state to seek an abortion.

Still, Meta has remained largely silent on how it will moderate abortion content in general. However, users recently noticed that Instagram and Facebook posts about acquiring abortion pills such as mifepristone were being systematically removed. At the same time, Meta continued to earn revenue from anti-abortion advertisements containing dangerous misinformation, Media Matters found. An investigation by the Markup discovered that Facebook was collecting data from users interacting with abortion services websites, and subequently made that information available to anti-abortion groups.

In response to pressure from employees, Google announced that it would delete location data of users who had used the platform to look up abortion services.

All of the largest tech giants have been pressed on whether, and to what extent, they may cooperate in investigations that seek to punish women for seeking an abortion. In June, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone told the Washington Post that the company carefully scrutinize[s] all government requests for user information and often push[es] back, including in court.

A District Attorney assigned to the case declined to comment. An attorney for Celeste Burgess did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Update: This story has been updated to note that the Facebook messages were obtained via search warrant.

A late term illegal home abortion where they desecrated the body. Nice.

A late term illegal home abortion where they desecrated the body. Nice.

Biden should pardon them immediately

President can't pardon state prosecuted offenses.

A late term illegal home abortion where they desecrated the body. Nice.

Jury nullification should make it impossible for her to get convicted.

Fucking evil shit

Doesn't really matter

they had a warrant.. what could they have possibly done..?

I imagine a jury in Nebraska won't look kindly on the messages she sent her mother about burning the corpse to hide the evidence.

literally dont use fb

I question who DMs this sort of information on Facebook or even how they would have found out to get a warrant.

Refuse to comply? You can't really arrest a corporation now can you? Any fine levied against them would be laughable in the face of Facebook's massove revenue stream and would likely provide a boost in goodwill from the populace at large.

A late term illegal home abortion where they desecrated the body. Nice.

This is what happens when the government decides women are less than dirt and don't deserve absolute control over their bodies. If they want to kill the baby inside them, that's their business. The state should shut the fuck up and let doctors do what needs to be done.

That's what actual freedom and pro-life is.

Congratulations on noticing that this has nothing to do with Roe being overturned.

Holy shit that is a creepy as fuck way to put it.

It's a shame someone has to get a home abortion and dispose of the corpse themselves since the government wants to play doctor.

The fetus could have mental faculties of a fully grown adult and I'd still enthusiastically support the right to abortions.

The fetus could have mental faculties of a fully grown adult and I'd still enthusiastically support the right to abortions.

Fuck Facebook

Im legit concerned with what you are saying here. I know weve had our disagreements in the past, but this absolutely needs to be addressed and Id advise seeking help.

okay youre taking this too far. Its one thing to support abortions but another entirely to say stuff like this. This is not okay on this site and Im going to have to report this.

Wow.

You're literally an anti-vax chud. You have absolutely no moral high ground in any conversation here.

That's odd, I've never felt more moral superiority in my life than seeing you guys defend late term abortions on demand.