It is clear that a large portion of people using social media are in favour of marijuana legalization, but what sort of stance or policies do they have towards people posting about it? As well how do the social media companies treat them? Here are 2 articles discussing marijuana and social media:
http://www.cannalawblog.com/the-hypocrisy-behind-social-media-and-marijuana/
http://www.hightimes.com/read/watch-your-pot-posts-social-media
In the first article, a website named Canna Law Blog, that offers legal advice for the cannabis business community, is explaining the unjust censorship they experienced on Facebook. Essentially what happened was that this website had a Facebook page for people to discuss issues and topics surrounding marijuana. Facebook banned and blocked their promotion and ads for their page. Facebook emailed them saying “ads may not promote or facilitate the sale or consumption of illegal or recreational drugs, tobacco products, or drug or tobacco paraphernalia.” But they claim that neither Canna Law Blog nor their Facebook page has ever promoted or facilitated the sale or consumption of marijuana. They go on to discuss more rules and regulations amongst social media, such as the banning of the hashtag "#weed" on Instagram. I feel as though this quote from the article sums up the message pretty well, "Facebook’s blanket anti-drug policy impacts our ability to exercise our political speech rights and that frustrates us (and our readers) on a daily basis."
This second article is a warning tale of sorts. It discusses a teenage girl from Louisiana, who essentially posted a picture of marijuana on Instagram, which was later seen by a narcotics detective, who than tracked her down and arrested her for possession of marijuana. The article ends by saying, "Please remember when showing off your buds that “marijuana” is one of about 400 “hot” keywords that are monitored by government agencies on social media."
So as you can clearly see, social media does not want any part of marijuana due to its legality. But as mentioned in the first article, they could be charged with aiding and abetting in the sale of a federally illegal drugs, so its hard to blame them for being so strict and anti marijuana.
http://www.cannalawblog.com/the-hypocrisy-behind-social-media-and-marijuana/
http://www.hightimes.com/read/watch-your-pot-posts-social-media
In the first article, a website named Canna Law Blog, that offers legal advice for the cannabis business community, is explaining the unjust censorship they experienced on Facebook. Essentially what happened was that this website had a Facebook page for people to discuss issues and topics surrounding marijuana. Facebook banned and blocked their promotion and ads for their page. Facebook emailed them saying “ads may not promote or facilitate the sale or consumption of illegal or recreational drugs, tobacco products, or drug or tobacco paraphernalia.” But they claim that neither Canna Law Blog nor their Facebook page has ever promoted or facilitated the sale or consumption of marijuana. They go on to discuss more rules and regulations amongst social media, such as the banning of the hashtag "#weed" on Instagram. I feel as though this quote from the article sums up the message pretty well, "Facebook’s blanket anti-drug policy impacts our ability to exercise our political speech rights and that frustrates us (and our readers) on a daily basis."
This second article is a warning tale of sorts. It discusses a teenage girl from Louisiana, who essentially posted a picture of marijuana on Instagram, which was later seen by a narcotics detective, who than tracked her down and arrested her for possession of marijuana. The article ends by saying, "Please remember when showing off your buds that “marijuana” is one of about 400 “hot” keywords that are monitored by government agencies on social media."
So as you can clearly see, social media does not want any part of marijuana due to its legality. But as mentioned in the first article, they could be charged with aiding and abetting in the sale of a federally illegal drugs, so its hard to blame them for being so strict and anti marijuana.