For marijuana companies and operations, whether big or small, having a Facebook page deleted is an all-too-common occurrence, and it's not hard to see why. Because despite the grey area where its legality currently stands, it's still a plant known for its infamy, and social stigma isn't something that can be switched off overnight.
However, a report from the Telegraph last Monday says otherwise. According to the report, the social media giant is currently weighing on the decision on whether it should change its rules surrounding "regulated goods" so as to give sellers and manufacturers a wider avenue to help promote them. This, of course, includes marijuana.
From what seems like an internal presentation, company officials said, "Our policies at the moment do not allow for the sale of marijuana on the platform. We want to consider whether we can loosen this restriction, especially in relation to medical marijuana, legal marijuana and brick, and mortar stores."
Finding a viable decision
Presently, among the considerations that the company is currently pondering about is how it can effectively determine whether marijuana services offered by a seller on the platform is legal, as well as how it can easily block cannabis-related content for Facebook users who are under the legal age of 21 years old. Another point of concern for the company is how users from different societies from all over the world would react to seeing marijuana advertisements on the aforementioned platform.
Per an employee quoted by The Telegraph, "Since marijuana faces different legal and social restrictions across the globe, this may be operationally challenging for us. The company may encounter regional pushbacks in those areas of the world where the law or [society] views marijuana negatively."
If ever the policy gets approved, it would mark a complete turnaround for the Silicon Valley giant, which for years had banned marijuana-related accounts and pages.
Back on October 17 last year, when Canada made recreational marijuana fully legal in its country, Facebook lifted what can be considered as a "notarium" on cannabis and cannabis-related searches. This was done to coincide with the first day of Canada experiencing full cannabis legality, and most of the sales were made online.
Per the current changes under consideration, Facebook would allow cannabis companies to post the prices of their products online. However, it will still place a ban on marijuana sales done via the marketplace.
