So what's it all about?

I share my personal story with a heavy heart. It reflects the pain and suffering of countless others who, like me, have been subjected to the harsh insensitivity of social media advertising.

I was pregnant with twins. My joy quickly turned into grief when I miscarried my son Dylan at 14 weeks and subsequently went into premature labour with my daughter Delaney at 21 weeks. This was devastating enough, but what added to the pain was the relentless pregnancy, maternity, and baby advertisements that bombarded me during my mourning. Even now, I am incessantly targeted with fertility treatment adverts or fertility trials. This is a cruel reminder of my loss and is NOT OKAY.

For most people, social media is an escape, a safe space, a place to see what our friends and family are up to. Instead, being targeted by these invasive ads brings forth the agonizing reality back to us as we battle these daily reminders that are out of our control. There is an urgent need for social media platforms to exhibit a stronger sense of empathy and respect when it comes to sensitive ads. Using sophisticated algorithms designed to capitalise on a user's pain is inhuman, unethical, and inconsiderate.

It is a known fact that social media platforms have used tracking cookies and data mining for years to target ads to users, and this same technology can be used to enable users to customise or turn off sensitive ads. According to the Pew Research Centre, 74% of Facebook users have no idea they are targeted by ads based on their preferences, interests or in my case, grief.

We are calling on social media companies to be held accountable and make a difference in lives like mine. We demand an immediate allowance for users to customise or turn off ads related to sensitive matters such as pregnancy, loss, grief, and fertility treatments.

The protection of users' mental health should be a top priority in the digital space. Please sign and share this petition to send a clear message to the tech giants: We deserve empathy, respect, and the right to control what we see on our screens. 

This is in honour of my babies and the millions of babies lost across the world.

P.S - Clicking "Not interested" or hiding specific words DOES NOT WORK.