After DUBAWA’s investigation, Facebook removes Nigerian surrogacy groups

Facebook has clamped down on surrogacy groups in Nigeria, following DUBAWA’s investigation on how Facebook, misinformation, and legal loopholes throw Nigerian women into the surrogacy ditch.

The report, published on 27 September, projects the experience of surrogates in Nigeria who are at the receiving end of exploitative practices and severe health implications. It exposes human rights violations, particularly how surrogate agents lure women into surrogacy by weaponising misinformation, utilising Facebook for advertising, and leveraging legal loopholes to implement the practice.

International groups and Nigerians reacted to the report, criticising the existence of surrogacy groups on Facebook and calling for a ban.

“This is such an eye opener,” Purple Passion (@annie_chrissss) said on X after watching DUBAWA’s documentary. “A Facebook page agency for Surrogate mothers is genuinely the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in recent times.”

Following the report, Facebook removed several surrogacy groups in Nigeria.

Meta removed the surrogacy groups that DUBAWA had shared with them via email during the investigation: Surrogate Mothers Nigeria, and Egg Donor and Surrogate Mother in Nigeria.

The social networking platform also removed the groups DUBAWA reported to them via the Facebook app: Egg Donation and Surrogacy (For Expectant Mothers) IVF, and Surrogates and Egg donors group. Initially, Facebook said the groups didn’t violate their community standards. They later reviewed their decisions and deleted the groups.

After reversing its decisions, Facebook deleted more groups DUBAWA reported to them via its app: IVF & Surrogacy Support Groups Nigeria, Nigeria Surrogates and Intended Parents, Surrogate/Egg and Sperm Donors, and Surrogate Mothers Support and Advocacy Group.

Also, Facebook removed the international surrogacy platform, Surrogate Mothers Agency, which DUBAWA reported. The group had over 12,000 members and facilitated surrogacy worldwide, including for Nigerians.

Cumulatively, DUBAWA identified nine groups that had been deleted with over 38,000 global members.

Following the removal of the groups, Facebook also tightened enforcement of its community rules, as it is becoming more difficult for surrogate groups to post on the platform.

Temitope Afolabi, a former surrogate, told DUBAWA that surrogate agents now have difficulty posting surrogacy-related adverts on the platform.

“Many of the surrogate groups have been brought down, and whenever they want to post, they always have an issue,” Ms Afolabi said, “They say Facebook don’t allow them.”

Agents managing surrogacy support groups on the platform are now forced to self-regulate against publishing financial advertisements. One surrogacy support group published a disclaimer:

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“To follow Facebook’s surrogacy strict policies, we do not post payment plans, pricing, or financial discussions inside this group.”

Before DUBAWA’s investigation, there were countless Facebook surrogacy communities in Nigeria, with several groups created to facilitate surrogacy. Indiscriminate advertisements of surrogacy flood the groups, with different payment plans ranging from N2 million to N5 million advertised daily.

DUBAWA emailed Meta via email for comments following the removal of the groups; however, they failed to respond. We further contacted Meta’s head of communications, Oluwasola Obagbemi, on WhatsApp for comments, but she responded that she was “on leave and out of the office.”

However, Meta had initially informed DUBAWA in an email correspondence,

“Ads and Groups that exploit people through the sale or illegal adoption of children violate our policies, and we remove this content when it’s found – as we have done in this case.”