Twitter Allowing Ads for THC & CBD Ads

Twitter is the first social media network to explicitly allow THC and CBD ads on their platform in America.

For much time, despite its bans, abrupt shutdowns of accounts, and the like, Instagram had been the place for much of the internet’s Cannabis promotions. With the use of Content Creators and Influencers, many brands took to utilizing those creators’ networks in order to get their products in front of their audience.

That, however, does not downplay the amount of Twitter users that talk about Cannabis. In fact, after creators and educators kept losing their Instagram accounts, many joined the ranks of Cannabis Twitter and began sharing their content there, feeling a bit more secure in not losing their community to an unjust deletion. There are also specialty hashtags that connect the communities together, and through our own experiments, there are opportunities for the discovery of a cannabis-niched account by tweeting something as simple as “Cannabis heals” to locate the 420-loving users.

TWITTER’S RULES FOR CANNABIS

As far as the ad rules, here is what was shared, according to a new report from High Times:

“Twitter announced that it will allow advertisers to promote branded and informational cannabis-related content under the following categories: CBD and similar cannabinoid products; THC and similar products; as well as cannabis-related products and services such as delivery services, labs, growing technology, search engines, and events.

The cannabis ad policy move changes everything for businesses with the money to advertise. Toronto, Ontario-based AdCann in Canada was the first to break the news.

‘Up until now, only CBD topical brands were permitted to advertise on Twitter’s platform,’ AdCann wrote on its website. ‘Moving forward—the social network will allow for the promotion of regulated THC and CBD-containing cannabis products, accessories, services and more.’

AdCann continued, ‘American cannabis companies, brands, and purveyors will need to pass through a Twitter advertiser approval process to ensure they are legitimate and educated on the platform. Once approved, industry marketers will have access to Twitter’s entire suite of advertising products including promoted tweets, promoted product opportunities, location-specific takeovers, in-stream video sponsorships and partner publication features.'”

They also shared that Twitter has updated its terms of service to reflect the following:

“We permit approved cannabis (including CBD – cannabinoids) advertisers to target the United States, subject to the following restrictions:

• Advertisers must be licensed by the appropriate authorities, and pre-authorized by Twitter.
• Advertisers may only target jurisdictions in which they are licensed to promote these products or services online.
• Advertisers may not promote or offer the sale of cannabis (including CBD – cannabinoids). Exception: Ads for topical (non-ingestible) hemp-derived CBD topical products containing equal to or less than the 0.3% THC government-set threshold.
• Advertisers are responsible for complying with all applicable laws, rules, regulations, and advertising guidelines.
• Advertisers may not target customers under the age of 21.”

YOUR MOVE, INSTAGRAM AND TIKTOK

Now that one of the social media networks has made its first move into allowing the promotion of Cannabis products, it will be interesting to see who follows suit. Instagram has already lightly been toying with the Cannabis market, but in a very different way: The promotion of Video Games based on Cannabis.

Whether it has not been caught by the ad algorithm or it has been silently approved by Meta, we’ve seen a few games as ads on the platform:

And as of last week, we came across one for Hemper Co. that wasn’t for a game:

It will be telling to see if Instagram pulls back on its Cannabis restrictions due to this move from Twitter – even if it is just for ad spending. Additionally, if Instagram does not and TikTok decided to move in that direction, it may force a platform like Instagram to finally loosen its grip. Given that Instagram keeps trying to copy the successful features of TikTok, if the platform decided to simply ALLOW Cannabis content alone (not even paid ads), Instagram would have to make a hard and fast decision to keep users on board.

Regardless, it is all going to be wishful thinking, we assume, until federal legalization happens, but judging by the Twitter news, you never know what could happen next.

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