TikTok's Ban on Cannabis Advertising

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by Emily Jiannetto

Even if you don’t have an account yourself, almost every knows what the app TikTok is, and they know that the social media site is nearly entirely populated, by children, teens and young adults. This young audience is precisely why New York’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) are trying to get TikTok to lift its ban on an advertisement with the word “cannabis” in it. The group feels it would be helpful to run cannabis education advertisements, similar to those about drunk driving, or nicotine PSA’s.

According to the OCM’s Executive Director, Chris Alexander, “‘Clear and truthful public health information is essential in our public information campaigns, and TikTok could be a valued partner in this fight for public safety’” (Jaeger). Even on other social media platform’s, such as Facebook and Instagram, legal cannabis brands have faced being “‘shadow banded’” (Jaeger).

It seems quite ridiculous that any ad using the words “cannbis’ or “marijuana” is being banded. If kids and teens aren’t exposed to marijuana on TikTok, they are in their homes, television and schools. Blocking relevant, educational information, like that presented by the OCM, is not helping these children, but actively barring them from having the full picture.