How pro- and anti-abortion activists use encrypted messaging apps in post-Roe America

Bibliographic Data

ID5260845
AuthorsZelly C Martins (0000-0002-4664-7155, The University of Texas at Austin, corresponding author), Martin J Riedl (0000-0003-2411-1998, University of Tennessee at Knoxville), Samuel C Woolley (0000-0002-2619-7628, The University of Texas at Austin)
Year2023
Volume10
Issue2
Publication date2023-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBig Data & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2053-9517 • E-ISSN: 2053-9517
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/20539517231221736
OpenAlexW4390239766
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited44

In a post- Roe America, abortion-rights activists are scrambling to protect reproductive rights. Communication on open social media platforms like Facebook can now be used to prosecute those seeking an illegal abortion in a frightening entanglement of technology corporations and the state. Building on surveillance studies and feminist scholarship, we analyze 22 interviews with pro- and anti-abortion activists and pro-encryption activists to answer: How will encrypted messaging apps be relevant for pro- and anti-abortion activists post- Roe? We find that while encrypted messaging apps are used by activists on either side of the abortion debate, their motivations for use range from mere convenience to supplanting state and corporate surveillance. We thus argue that encryption can act as a feminist tool to usurp patriarchal surveillance but must be used in combination with a holistic privacy framework. This framework may include care-motivated, community-centered, relational surveillance

Abortion · Computer security · Encryption · Feminism · Internet privacy · Political science · Scholarship · Social media · Sociology · Computer Science · Law · Privacy, Security, and Data Protection · Reproductive Health and Technologies · Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology

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