Twitter Became The First Major Social Media Platform To Allow Cannabis Ads In The U.S. - Social Media

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Twitter now expressly allows cannabis advertising. This, of
course, makes it the first major social media platform to do so.
Twitter updated its ad policy to permit approved cannabis brands
to target advertisements in the United States, subject to the
following list of restrictions:

Advertisers must be licensed by the appropriate authorities,
and pre-authorized by Twitter.

Advertisers may only target jurisdictions where they are
licensed to promote these products or services online.

Advertisers may not promote or offer the sale of Cannabis

- There is an exception for ads for topical (non-ingestible)
  hemp-derived CBD topical products containing equal to or less than
  the 0.3% THC government-set threshold.

Advertisers must comply with all applicable laws, rules,
regulations, and advertising guidelines.

Advertisers may not target customers under 21.

Cannabis advertisements that are permitted and comply with the
limitations above must lead to landing pages that (1) are age gated
and (2) have age verification for sales. They must not:

Appeal to minors or use characters, athletes, celebrities, or
imagery that appeal to minors

Use minors or pregnant women as models

Make claims of efficacy or tout health benefits

Contain false or misleading content

Depict cannabis being used

Depict people under the influence

Encourage transport of product across state lines

This may present some conflict with federal law, which prohibits
advertising the sale of Schedule I narcotics, including advertising
on the internet. However, it appears that the intent of
Twitter’s new policy is to track the federal law exception
which says advertisements that, “merely advocate the use of a
controlled substance or include pricing information without
attempting to facilitate an actual transaction involving a
controlled substance” are excluded from the definition of an
“advertisement”. The new policy is consistent with most
state laws that allow digital advertising of cannabis.

Originally published February 27, 2023

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