Ending shadow banning: A call to protect access to women’s health information online

Essity’s campaign ‘Ending shadow banning: A call to protect access to women’s health information online’ used influencers not for promotion but to generate verifiable evidence, exposing how algorithms suppress women’s health content and restrict access to vital information.

The work unfolded across two waves. Wave 1 established the scale of the problem through a nationally representative survey, revealing that 74% of young adults rely on social media for health information and that many believe their posts have been restricted. This activity generated 94 articles reaching an estimated 1.59 million.

Wave 2 used influencers as controlled test subjects to produce measurable proof of algorithmic bias. Husband-and-wife creators Aly and Justin Boghici posted comparable content on women’s and men’s health, respectively; Aly’s posts saw a 66% fall in non-follower reach and 69% fewer comments, compared with a 16% drop and 76% increase in comments for Justin’s. Essity also replicated the method with two journalists, who wrote up their findings for a feature in the Mail on Sunday.

These findings were reinforced by 115 testimonies from affected creators and informed an open letter to platforms, policymakers and investors. The combined evidence secured 336 articles reaching 1.8 million and prompted a parliamentary roundtable (November 2025) with women’s health advocates, cross-party MPs, and key industry stakeholders, including a senior representative from TikTok in attendance.

By transforming influencer content into credible evidence, Essity reset how creators can be used to inform policy, drive industry collaboration and advance women’s health equality.