Meta’s latest cannabis policy states that brands can educate, advocate, or give PSAs related to the plant as long as no illicit substances are being promoted. Despite this promise of change, the issue of content creators being suppressed has persisted—in fact, it’s gotten worse for a lot of people.
Suppression comes in the form of either shadow-banning or full-out deletion. If you’re shadow-banned, the Meta algorithm may bury your posts, and your page won’t be searchable to users unless they type your full username, lowering your engagement.
While there’s no guarantee that a given page won’t be permanently deleted, there are steps you can take to make the odds lower. From sending general appeals to getting in direct contact with Meta employees, an initial suspension doesn’t have to be the end-all, be-all.
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How to avoid trouble with Meta
By far, the best way to protect your cannabis account is prevention. Instead of waiting to be banned or suspended, it’s safest to ensure that your page won’t be flagged for doing anything against Meta’s rules.
Ishqa Hillman, CEO of The Canna Boss Babes, tries to keep her content toned down and her pages up to date as best as possible. By creating backup accounts, buying a blue checkmark, and being sure not to smoke on Lives, she’s found relative success.
Betsy Kabaker, a long-time social media professional and communications manager at Puffco, agrees that backup accounts are crucial to continue engaging with your audience.
“Make sure to have a backup account ready with a similar user name, so when people search your handle, the backup account shows up,” she told GreenState.
Prevention goes beyond your immediate content, too. Ben Mason, CEO of Pillar Marketing, told GreenState in an email that if a post is flagged, Meta can scan highlights, reshares, the link in your bio, and other associated pages to look for further violations. Thus, cannabis creators not only have to monitor what they post—they have to make sure their entire “ecosystem,” as Mason calls it, is clean.
Sometimes, Meta isn’t the one pulling for your page to be removed. If multiple people are reporting your page, Instagram tends to “suspend and delete first and ask questions later,” according to Bill Levers of Beard Bros Pharms. There’s not much you can do about people reporting your account, but there are ways to decrease your chances of being permanently banned.
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What do you do when you get banned?
Unfortunately, prevention doesn’t work for everyone. Some pages that try their hardest to follow Meta’s guidelines are still taken down, but all hope is not lost.
Of course, there are the obvious options: submitting help tickets, appealing in the app, etc. Sometimes it takes more, though: Mason told GreenState a few ways he’s avoided a permanent ban for the last seven years of creating cannabis content.
“Do not file an appeal immediately. Once you do, a manual reviewer will lock in a decision that’s nearly impossible to reverse,” he said. “Instead, first escalate through a Meta account rep, ask them to review for specific violations, and only after adjustments submit a formal appeal.”
According to Mason, the odds of reinstatement for first-time suspensions are over 80 percent.
Meta account reps are only available for business accounts that spend a certain amount on ads. If your page is eligible, they will reach out to you. Otherwise, it’s much harder to reach someone. A user on Reddit had a family member sign up for Meta Verified and reach an account support agent on their behalf, allowing them to finally speak to a real person and reinstate their account.
Mason also encourages businesses to leverage their ad spend: “Meta is a business, and they care about keeping compliant advertisers investing in the platform.”
There are some groups that claim to be able to reinstate pages for a fee, but it’s a risky game—there’s no guarantee that their methods will work.
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Levers suggests switching your account to a creator account and then making it a business account again, as sometimes it resets the shadow ban. They also say to make sure that your Instagram and Facebook accounts are connected and tied to a Meta Business Suite so that even if one page is deleted, you still have access to support channels.
There are a plethora of other methods that people claim work, including using bots to spam support forms, utilizing the creator support portal, and filing in small claims court.
Kabaker adds that you should have proof you are who you say you are before making your case—and if all else fails, know you’re not alone.
“You should also formally submit an appeal with Meta and make sure to have documents that verify your identity and your business,” she suggested. “And if that doesn’t work, just know you have joined an elite rank of cannabis marketers who have had to experience this. It’s almost a rite of passage.”
Meta’s censorship inconsistencies
Unfortunately, Meta’s censorship doesn’t seem to be consistent across the board. Pages that share the same caliber of content have varied experiences with Meta, and every reinstatement tactic that works for some yields no results for others.
Marc Emmelmann, Vice President of Brothers Grimm Seeds, wrote in a LinkedIn post that he has “serious concerns about inconsistent enforcement and algorithmic errors that unfairly penalize businesses.”
This came after his company’s page was taken down for a second time—the first time, it was reinstated after verifying their “compliance documentation as a federally licensed hemp seed company,” said Emmelmann. Now, it’s been taken down again for violating “account integrity.”
Meta did not respond to GreenState’s request for comment.
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Can creators find a Meta alternative?
Unfortunately for the cannabis industry, there’s not a great Meta alternative when it comes to reaching consumers directly. It’s by far the most effective way to reach large, intergenerational audiences with user-friendly content.
Despite this, some creators have opted to give up on Meta entirely, or at least to start investing in other, more stable platforms. X, Snapchat, Reddit, and LinkedIn are popular for their relatively relaxed cannabis policies.
Some have taken it upon themselves to create platforms that will support and even prioritize cannabis. According to Kerri Accardi, “420MEDIA is launching a streaming TV channel…for brands to showcase their products on mainstream platforms like Apple TV, LG, Amazon Fire, Spotify [and more] on TVs, mobile, audio, and web.”
There’s also Leafwire and CanMar.These platforms allow cannabis creators to showcase their products and other information, garner followings, and connect with like-minded individuals.
Aside from the particular cannabis platforms, many creators just focus on building their own websites or doing in-person outreach in their immediate communities. Of course, this isn’t an option for all—social media has monopolized the attention of so many people now that it’s hard to get customers without it. Also, planning events like these costs money that not everyone has.
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The struggle continues
Meta keeps the cannabis industry constantly on its toes, and while it sounds easy to completely divest, most companies don’t have the option. While these pieces of advice cannot guarantee that your page will be safe, they certainly improve your chances of a long, sustained social media presence.