NEWS
Shut down in the US
Pressure mounts on Mark Zuckerberg to reinstate pages as Facebook
deletes US & UK CBD accounts, despite the legalisation of hemp.
communicate with the public about their
products.”
The Wee Hemp Co. Facebook page was
removed without warning, for ‘promoting
the sale of pharmaceuticals’ in violation
of Facebook policy. Colorado-based Joy
Organics received the same message. Both
pages were reinstated shortly afterwards.
Commenting on the Joy Organics case, a
Facebook spokesperson said:
“We mistakenly removed pages for hemp
and CBD oil that do not violate our policies
and we are currently working to restore these
pages.”
However, some people in the industry
believe that the pages were not deleted
by accident.
Sunshine Bickett of Sunshine CBD Bake
said:
“Personally, I think this is happening because
they are correlating us with big pharma now
that hemp is legal.”
“Pharmaceutical companies pay big bucks
to be on Facebook, and then there are
little guys like us who have pages. Once
the Farm Bill passed, maybe Facebook saw
an opportunity to move things around.”
The FDA has been unequivocal in stating
that CBD products marketed for therapeutic
use require regulatory approval.
Up until now, many companies have simply
avoided making therapeutic claims on
their products and social media pages
and leaving it to customers to do their
research before purchasing.
But Facebook and Instagram will also
have to move with the times if they hope
to profit from the increasingly lucrative
and evolving CBD industry.
The Farm Bill is now law in the US after
many months of political wrangling. But
recent actions by Facebook show that
confusion around the sale and marketing of
CBD products persists.
Within days of President Trump’s signature
drying, and in the thick of a government
shutdown, the newly legalised hemp
industry was experiencing a shutdown of
its own.
Facebook removed the pages of CBD and
hemp companies located in Colorado,
Kansas, Maine and Kentucky, despite
hemp being fully legal in all 50 US states
since January 1.
At least one UK company was also targeted.
Kentucky commissioner of agriculture Ryan
Quarles expressed his frustration in a letter
to Mark Zuckerberg:
“Because hemp products are legal,
it is baffling for me that Facebook
would attempt to interfere with hemp
business owners’ efforts to advertise and
VAPOUROUND CBD MAGAZINE
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