Meta forced into U-turn over silencing Liv Nervo

Meta have lifted restrictions on a video about Liv Nervo after legal pressure from Good Law Project.

In January, we helped Liv explain how her ex-partner, Matthew Pringle, tricked her into pregnancy. We posted a video on Instagram, in which she recalled how this wealthy businessman built their relationship on deceit and she launched her campaign to make reproductive coercion a standalone criminal offence.

More than one million people watched this clip, with many women sharing their own experiences. But a few weeks after we posted it, Meta blocked it in the UK, citing “a legal request related to a report from a third party”.

In March, the Court of Appeal set out in detail how Pringle had conned Liv into bearing his child, ruling that his “shameful and deceitful” behaviour was “domestic abuse”. The court also criticised a so-called transparency order from a lower court which stopped Liv from telling her story.

Pringle’s disgraceful conduct had already been brought into the light. And it’s a vital case study in the fight to get justice for women all over the world who have been deceived into having a child. Meta should never have taken the video down – and now they’ve admitted they were wrong.

Meta told the Guardian, “This content was initially restricted in the UK following a request for removal received through our reporting tools. Following further legal review, we have determined the restriction was not required and the content is now accessible in the UK.”

But Liv’s video isn’t the only one that the tech giant has removed. Good Law Project has found that Meta have blocked or taken down more than 12 posts about Liv’s story from campaigners, activists and fans based in the UK, Australia, Mexico, USA, Brazil and Chile.

The firm has cited “local laws”, “privacy”, community standards on “bullying and harassment”. And some posts have been removed without any notification at all.

For Liv, Meta’s actions reveal a broader truth.

“But this is bigger than one reinstated post,” she said. “It is about whether survivors are allowed to speak truthfully about their own lives, and whether children have the right to honest narratives about their origins, identity, and family history.”

We will be keeping the pressure on Meta. We won’t allow big tech to silence women when they’re brave enough to speak out.