Twitter now allows ads for cannabis and THC products

While most platforms resist cannabis content, the bird is now welcoming weed ads and even offering financial incentives to new ad buyers.

Licensed cannabis brands can now market themselves on Twitter, the social media company announced on Tuesday. Twitter will also incentivize brands that take advantage of the new policy before March 31, promising to pay up to $250,000 for new ad buyers.

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AdCann reports that there were more than 20 million tweets related to cannabis in the last year. That’s more than coffee, golf and the NHL, says AdCann. On Feb. 4, Twitter CEO Elon Musk tweeted “420.” Musk, who smoked a joint on Joe Rogan’s podcast in 2018, is now responsible for making Twitter the 420th friendliest social media platform in the mix. Meanwhile, competitors like TikTok and Meta (Facebook, Instagram) are harshly censoring cannabis posts and outright banning advertising, even from legitimate operators.

The following is allowed under Twitter’s updated cannabis advertising guidelines

Advertisers can now promote the following on Twitter:

• CBD and related cannabinoid products.
• THC and similar products.
• Cannabis related products and services including delivery services, labs, events and more.

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New restrictions cannabis advertisers must consider when advertising on Twitter

Twitter will continue to require cannabis advertisers to abide by the following rules:

• “Advertisers must be licensed by the relevant authorities and pre-authorized by Twitter.
• “Advertisers may only target jurisdictions where they are licensed to advertise those products or services online.
• “Advertisers may not promote or offer for sale any cannabis (including CBD cannabinoids). Exception: Ads for topical (non-ingestible) hemp-derived topical CBD products that contain the government-set threshold of 0.3% THC or less.
• “Advertisers are responsible for complying with all applicable laws, rules, regulations and advertising policies.
• “Advertisers may not target customers under the age of 21.”

Rosie Mattio, CEO of cannabis marketing firm Mattio Communications, tweeted that her company would help Twitter make the transition. “Kudos to @twitter for being the first major social network to embrace cannabis advertising,” Mattio wrote in response to the announcement.

Kudos to @twitter for being the first major social network to embrace cannabis advertising.

We’re excited to be working closely with the team over there to bring this program to life. https://t.co/qbvdsMCwd5

— Rosie Mattio (@RosieMattio) February 15, 2023