Pot Content Trips Over Social Media’s Policies: Cannabis Weekly
- Marijuana companies say they can be banned with no explanation
- Instagram says it tries to balance freedom, safety with rules
Photographer: Annie Sakkab/Bloomberg
This article is for subscribers only.
Social media platforms already walk a fine line when it comes to policing content. The problem is only growing as cannabis goes mainstream.
Take TheWeedTube, a site with hundreds of creators posting marijuana-related content. Arend Richard, the 31-year-old chief executive officer, learned earlier this month that his firm’s Instagram feed was disabled without explanation. It was another blow for an industry that has had content taken down, material made harder to find through alleged algorithm “shadow bans” and accounts removed and reinstated for unclear reasons, he said.