Could Elon Musk’s Twitter End Cannabis Social Media Ban?
The Haymaker is Leafly Senior Editor Bruce Barcott’s opinion column on cannabis politics and culture.
What started as a funny what-if last week ended this afternoon in a startling fact: Twitter has accepted Elon Musk’s $44 billion offer to buy the company.
In the cannabis world, this deal could have profound implications.
The Tesla founder has notoriously been open about his belief in the legalization of cannabis. In late 2018, Musk lit a joint at the Joe Rogan Experience, inhaled, and started a million memes.
In the summer of 2020, Musk added his voice to the chorus of those campaigning to free America’s cannabis prisoners.
“Selling weed has literally gone from a felony to a major business (open during the pandemic) in much of America, and yet many are still in prison,” he wrote. “Doesn’t make sense, isn’t right.”
Musk is less of an advocate and more of an ally. He’s not the type to fund government legalization campaigns; He’s the over-brother with massive cultural influence loudly saying: Prohibition is stupid.
And now he owns Twitter. At a purchase price of $54.20 per share. Hm.
Will this change anything?
What needs to be changed?
Anyone who works with cannabis can tell you: social media platforms don’t play well with weed. The ongoing federal marijuana ban is making the major platforms — Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, TikTok — extremely nervous. They often express this concern by blocking posts, issuing shadow bans, or deleting entire accounts.
It’s hard to find a cannabis company that hasn’t been blocked or banned from at least one social platform.
It’s hard to find a cannabis company that hasn’t already been blocked or banned from at least one platform.
Often the prohibitions feel moody. A completely harmless post may be reported for violating a platform’s terms of service, while a fancier post may easily shine. What did we do wrong?!? is an agonized cry that almost every cannabis social media executive has cried out to the heavens.
These mysterious cannabis guidelines exist in a wide spectrum. On the other side of the strictures is TikTok, which doesn’t allow any cannabis content. Don’t even try. Google’s own YouTube can be tricky, but it allows for cannabis content within reason. Then there’s Instagram and Facebook, both owned by parent company Meta. Due to the nature of the cannabis audience, Instagram is currently the most important and influential platform and also the one that gives social media directors absolute traction when it comes to cannabis content.
Jungle Boys, one of the country’s leading cannabis brands, gave a wink to this situation earlier today:
Will Musk Change Twitter’s Cannabis Rules?
The platform Musk just bought has a reputation for being one of the most permissive when it comes to cannabis. This has advantages and disadvantages.
The upside is that Twitter is culturally and temperamentally the best fit for Musk himself. His public persona is much closer to that of swashbuckling libertarian Jack Dorsey (founder of Twitter) than that of aggressively tasteless meta-leader Mark Zuckerberg.
If anything, we should expect Twitter’s cannabis policies to relax even further under Elon Musk. Consider this tweet he posted this afternoon after accepting his offer:
Better gatekeeping or an ugly free-for-all?
Musk’s advocacy of free speech could make Twitter the 420-friendliest platform — but it could also turn the entire Twitterverse into an ugly hodgepodge of political propaganda, unverified conspiracy theories, and hate speech.
A year from now, Twitter could be the social platform most welcoming to cannabis companies and consumers. But will cannabis companies and users want to be on Twitter a year from now?
It’s not just his company, it’s his voice
Aside from the changes he might make to Twitter, Musk could change the landscape for cannabis simply because of his new role in the social media universe. After hearing about Musk’s offer over the weekend, I reached out to Arend Richard, founder of WeedTube. Richard is one of the leading advocates for freedom and fairness on social media when it comes to cannabis. He founded WeedTube in 2018 after being blocked by YouTube for a harmless cannabis post. Four years later, 420-friendly WeedTube is thriving and preparing an ambitious new update for their app, expected to launch later this summer.
“As a cannabis business owner and influencer, Twitter was relatively easy to work with,” Richard told me. “But I want to get in touch with Elon because we need him to raise awareness about the situation with Meta” and its platforms.
Richard is currently collecting signatures on a petition calling for Instagram to reform its community guidelines “to treat all legal cannabis businesses equally.”
The heart of the complaint? Unequal enforcement according to the petition:
“Instagram continues to ban and take down the pages of licensed and legal cannabis companies for violating their vague and outdated policy prohibiting “attempts by individuals, manufacturers and retailers to buy, sell or trade marijuana.” This policy is not equally enforced as large multi-state corporations are allowed to promote their products and locations while smaller, independent operators lose access to their Instagram pages, which are essential marketing tools in 2022.”
Influence others by eating their lunch
Can Elon Musk demand a change in Instagram’s policies? Of course not. This is a situation where he could, however, force a change simply by opening his arms to cannabis companies and then gaining ground on Insta.
The Meta-owned giant has nearly 10 times as many active monthly users as Twitter. Instagram is younger, hotter and hipper. If a musk-over from Twitter can change that perception and erode that lead, Instagram could be forced to reconsider its cumbersome and outdated cannabis policies. And that could also lead to a change in the other meta properties.
There are no guarantees, but it might work. Elon Musk alone couldn’t force GM and Ford to build electric cars. Tesla’s success forced them to follow his example or become obsolete. Let’s see what he can do with social media.
The Haymaker: Upset people
Bruce Barcott
Leafly senior editor Bruce Barcott oversees news, investigations and feature projects. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and the author of Weed the People: The Future of Legal Marijuana in America.
Check out Bruce Barcott’s articles
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