Facebook filters pages talking about cannabis

Facebook recently updated its cannabis filters. The social networking giant has made invisible all pages containing the terms «cannabis» or «marijuana» in their name. They still exist and can be accessed via Google or by subscribers, but anyone searching for them directly on the Facebook search bar will get no results, a practice known as shadow-banning.

An inconsistent attitude

This practice is justified by the Community Standards of the platform which state: «In order to encourage safety and compliance with common legal restrictions, we prohibit all attempts by individuals, manufacturers or sellers, to buy, sell or trade non-medical substances, pharmaceutical drugs or cannabis».

Until now, however, Facebook had strictly targeted growers, dispensaries and businesses that deal in cannabis. Now, its new policy affects regulatory agencies, the media or cannabis businesses operating within a legal framework.

Mason Tvert, vice-president of public relations and communications at VS Stratégies, a Denver-based cannabis consulting firm, says: «It's ridiculous, cannabis is a major political issue at the federal level as well as in many states. There's no rational reason to block searches that include the term cannabis when it's such a popular topic of discussion».

A shady attitude

Facebook's attitude on this point is incomprehensible. After being contacted by the California Cannabis Control Board, a Facebook representative asked for more details on the situation and stopped responding once the details were received.

«Clearly something has happened, but we don't know what,» says Sylvia Chi, an Oakland-based attorney whose clients work in the cannabis business. «I think their Community Standards around cannabis are problematic». She adds that Facebook updated its standards on firearms advertising this year, making them inaccessible to underage users: «they could do the same for cannabis, it's just a lack of will».

A blow for cannabis companies

Facebook is an essential platform for all businesses, whether in the cannabis industry or not. It's a powerful communication tool that facilitates customer contact. For cannabis companies, who were already restricted on advertising, the disappearance of their page deprives them of any visibility. Rosie Mattio, founder of New York's RMPR, a public relations firm that works with cannabis companies, declares: «This is a major blow for the cannabis business. Companies» social networking pages are as important, if not more so, than their websites.

What's more, the filter only applies to the page name, not the content. Cannabusinesses without the words «prohibited» in their name are not affected by this discrimination. This, for example, distorts the visibility of competing companies. In Canada, for example, despite the imminent legality of cannabis, Aurora Cannabis, one of the world leaders in the field, does not appear, while its competitor Aphria does.

No access to information

This situation doesn't just affect companies. It also hinders access to information for everyone. Media with cannabis in their name are invisible, even though they have no connection with the cannabis trade, and don't necessarily extol its virtues.

This situation is already damaging: in California, companies have until August 27 to comment on and challenge the state's final regulations, but with the invisibility of the BCC page, dialogue is made more difficult. Alex Traverso, head of the agency's communications office said, «We are a state agency. We don't sell cannabis products. We don't advocate its use. Our role is strictly informational and we use the platform as a tool to communicate with people about the work we do and to be transparent about what we do here». As a result of the new filter, he deplores a drop of at least 2,000 views per publication.

For our part, since the start of 2018 and one of the changes in the Facebook algorithm, we've seen a sharp drop in visibility for the Newsweed Facebook page. The network has recently decided to increase the visibility of contact posts at the expense of Pages.