Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
The billion-dollar medical marijuana and recreational marijuana industry is hooked on photo sharing site Instagram - but the Facebook-owned social network detests the smell of pot.
Last week, several major cannabis brands were left scrambling after Instagram conducted yet another purge of pot-related Instagram accounts. The company's terms of service preclude posting illegal drugs and paraphernalia, and cannabis' quasi-legality leaves its brands open to attack.
The world's largest outdoor organic medical cannabis competition The Emerald Cup lost their Instagram, Twitter and Gmail accounts on the same day they planned to announce Damian Marley will perform at their 2016 Cup in December.
Prominent Bay Area cannabis analysis laboratory SC Labs also faced Insta-deletion last week, reports from CCTV state. SC Labs had 10,000 followers - a vital form of currency in the social media age.
"On a personal level, now I don't have access to the five or six years of history documenting our process, our interactions with the community and the story of our company," an SC Lab employee told Cannabis Club TV - an interest news outlet.
SC Labs, like many brands has endured multiple account closures, and had reached 18,000 followers in the past. Sometimes, pot brands will flag their rivals for deletion.
"I guess the Cannabis science and education was a bit too much for some of our followers we never like to see our social media accounts flagged or removed (4x now) but we also won't let it stop us," SC Labs stated.
Mainstream social media apps' ongoing purge of content related to cannabis - which is legal for medical use in 36 states and legal for adults 21 and over to use in four states and the nation's capital Washington D.C. - has spurred the development of social media safe havens like Mass Roots (Facebook for weed lovers), Toke With (Periscope for smoke sessions) and CCTV.
The Emerald Cup had racked up 10,000 followers before their most recent account deletion, and 30,000 followers before their last one.
There is an element of unfair corporate competition to all this, too.
BuzzFeed reports social media giants like Facebook and Google single out small canna-businesses that can't fight back, "while larger and more mainstream companies advertising the same content remain unaffected."
Some brands like CareByDesign and OM Edibles have reported successfully being able to restore deleted Instagram accounts.
Facebook also regularly blocks advertising related to cannabis news articles, not the plant or sales of it, critics note - which is tantamount to political censorship.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Instagram Burns Pot Brands With Major Account Purge
Author: David Downs
Contact: SF Gate
Photo Credit: The Emerald Cup
Website: SF Gate
Last week, several major cannabis brands were left scrambling after Instagram conducted yet another purge of pot-related Instagram accounts. The company's terms of service preclude posting illegal drugs and paraphernalia, and cannabis' quasi-legality leaves its brands open to attack.
The world's largest outdoor organic medical cannabis competition The Emerald Cup lost their Instagram, Twitter and Gmail accounts on the same day they planned to announce Damian Marley will perform at their 2016 Cup in December.
Prominent Bay Area cannabis analysis laboratory SC Labs also faced Insta-deletion last week, reports from CCTV state. SC Labs had 10,000 followers - a vital form of currency in the social media age.
"On a personal level, now I don't have access to the five or six years of history documenting our process, our interactions with the community and the story of our company," an SC Lab employee told Cannabis Club TV - an interest news outlet.
SC Labs, like many brands has endured multiple account closures, and had reached 18,000 followers in the past. Sometimes, pot brands will flag their rivals for deletion.
"I guess the Cannabis science and education was a bit too much for some of our followers we never like to see our social media accounts flagged or removed (4x now) but we also won't let it stop us," SC Labs stated.
Mainstream social media apps' ongoing purge of content related to cannabis - which is legal for medical use in 36 states and legal for adults 21 and over to use in four states and the nation's capital Washington D.C. - has spurred the development of social media safe havens like Mass Roots (Facebook for weed lovers), Toke With (Periscope for smoke sessions) and CCTV.
The Emerald Cup had racked up 10,000 followers before their most recent account deletion, and 30,000 followers before their last one.
There is an element of unfair corporate competition to all this, too.
BuzzFeed reports social media giants like Facebook and Google single out small canna-businesses that can't fight back, "while larger and more mainstream companies advertising the same content remain unaffected."
Some brands like CareByDesign and OM Edibles have reported successfully being able to restore deleted Instagram accounts.
Facebook also regularly blocks advertising related to cannabis news articles, not the plant or sales of it, critics note - which is tantamount to political censorship.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Instagram Burns Pot Brands With Major Account Purge
Author: David Downs
Contact: SF Gate
Photo Credit: The Emerald Cup
Website: SF Gate
