Meta baby ads are like 'a cot in your front room', say grieving parents

A significant story is unfolding on the international scene. Meta baby ads are like 'a cot in your front room'1 hour ago Share Save Add as preferred on GoogleHayley ComptonEast Midlands InvestigationsMichelle WelshMP Michelle Welsh's own experience of giving birth is part of the biggest review of maternity failings in NHS historyThe government's new maternity adviser is calling on Meta to meet bereaved families left "devastated" by pregnancy-related adverts after losing their babies. Newly appointed Michelle Welsh, Labour MP for Sherwood Forest, has written to the owner of Facebook and Instagram, urging them to better protect users from being bombarded with unwanted ads. A investigation found parents who suffered miscarriages or stillbirths continued to see adverts for baby and maternity products, days, weeks and months after their babies died.

Meta said it took "these concerns seriously", and admitted its systems were not perfect and continued to "improve the sensitivity and accuracy of how ads are delivered". Welsh said: "These adverts are pumped at you when you've gone through the most horrendous circumstances - it's like walking through the door and someone's put a cot in your front room. "The MP said she sent a letter to Meta on 26 May calling on the social media giant to meet affected families and pledge to make it easier to stop users seeing adverts that may re-traumatise them when they are grieving their lost children.

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It has also been signed by baby loss charities including Sands, Petals and Tommy's as well as the Royal College of Midwives and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. "These are good, honest, hard-working people that have gone through horrendous situations and there is a social media company trying to make a quick buck. "That's disgusting," Welsh added.

The MP's own experience of giving birth is part of the biggest review of maternity failings in NHS history. Welsh said when she gave birth to her son William in 2020, their lives were "put at risk by a failing maternity service" at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust. The independent inquiry, which involves about 2,500 families, began in September 2022 after allegations of harm to mothers and babies and is due to be published in June.

Welsh said she had spoken to more than 1,000 families who had been through baby loss. "I've seen the hurt and I've taken it with me, it lives in here with me," Welsh said. UK ParliamentWelsh's son has just turned sixSammi Claxon, from Blidworth in Nottinghamshire, said she was looking for answers and support on social media after suffering a miscarriage in 2021 but was confronted with adverts on her Facebook and Instagram feeds trying to sell her baby items.

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"It feels like an attack. "You do feel ambushed and it is the last thing you want to be seeing," she said. Sammi went on to have four more miscarriages.

"That's a lot of times to feel attacked something you reach out for support," she added.

The story has become one of the most prominent items on the global agenda.