Twitter Now Allows Cannabis Ads On The Platform, After Losing More Than Half Of Its Top Advertisers

Elon Musk-owned Twitter has become the first social networking platform in the US that will allow cannabis companies to advertise on the micro-blogging platform.

Twitter is said to have lost more than half of its top 1,000 advertisers from September 2022 who are no longer spending on the platform in the first weeks of January.

Elon Musk-owned Twitter has become the first social networking platform in the US that will allow cannabis companies to advertise on the micro-blogging platform, the media has reported. The company updated its ad policy on Wednesday, thus, becoming the first social media company in the US to allow cannabis ads.

This comes after Twitter is said to have lost more than half of its top 1,000 advertisers from September 2022 who are no longer spending on the platform in the first weeks of January, according to a CNN report that cited data from digital marketing analysis firm Pathmatics by Sensor Tower.

The company had earlier only allowed advertising for hemp-derived CBD topical products, while other social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok follow a "no cannabis advertising policy" as pot remains illegal at the federal level says a report by news agency Reuters.

However, more states in the US are moving towards allowing the sale of recreational cannabis, with 21 already on board. The micro-blogging platform said it will permit cannabis companies to advertise, as long as they have proper license, pass through its approval process, only target jurisdictions where they are licensed to operate and most importantly, do not target people below 21 years, the report added.

Meanwhile, tech billionaire Musk, who grabbed the limelight following a $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in October last year, recently said that he hopes to find a CEO for the company “probably toward the end of this year.”

Musk, who was speaking at the World Government Summit in Dubai through a video call, said the priority for him is to make sure the platform can function, reported news agency AP.

“I think I need to stabilize the organization and just make sure it’s in a financial healthy place,” Musk responded when asked when he would name a CEO. “I’m guessing probably toward the end of this year would be good timing to find someone else to run the company.”

Twitter has recently also announced it is delaying the launch of its new paid Application Programming Interface (API) by a few more days. The Musk-owned company made the announcement on Twitter via its Twitter Dev account. Twitter, after announcing shutting down free access to the API had said that it will charge $100 per month for the basic tier of API. Initially, the company had planned to shut down free access to its API on February 9, but then it was extended to February 13.