By Google announced this month thatDangerous products and services, health care and medicinesAfter January 20, 2023, cannabis advertising will be allowed, but currently only in California, Colorado and Puerto Rico.
Specifically, this update concerns products containing CBD that have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or hemp-derived CBD products containing 0.3% or less THC. “Certain formats, including the YouTube Masthead, are ineligible for distribution. CBD will be removed from Unapproved Medicines and Supplements list. All ads promoting his other CBD-based products, such as supplements, food additives and inhalants, will continue to be disallowed,” he said.
Google has partnered with LegitScript to create a certification program for non-ingested CBD manufacturers. LegitScript CEO Scott Roth explained how certification aims to create standards for the cannabis industry. “Anyone who sees the LegitScript seal on your product or website knows you operate with security and transparency.” Ross said“In an industry where we still see widespread problems with contaminated, substandard, or illegal products, giving consumers confidence that the CBD products they are buying have been properly vetted is vital. more important than ever.”
LegitScript works with other payment service providers such as Visa, Google, Bing and Facebook. “LegitScript certification can let the world know which healthcare merchants, CBD products and websites, and drug and alcohol addiction treatment facilities operate safely and transparently,” the company said. . Press release“Results? Qualified merchants can stand out from the crowd, enhance their online presence and demonstrate credibility in a high-risk industry. A leading third party certification expert in a complex field.”
LegitScript charges a fee for processing and monitoring applicants (although their website states that No fees until March 31, 2023). Applicants may apply for LegitScript certification of their website in order to advertise on Google. After LegitScript has authenticated your website, you will be provided with “verification status information” such as a LegitScript “approval seal” that can be displayed on the authenticated website.
Starting LegitScript Fee per CBD product It fluctuates between $650 for 1-5 products, then $600 for 6-50 products, $550 for 51-99, and finally $500 for 100 or more, declining for each bracket. There is also an annual monitoring fee that ranges from $750 to $1,000, depending on the number of CBD products. full website There is a $800 fee per website, with an annual membership fee of $1,600 per website, or $2,250 per year for “experimental websites” for websites with a “past history of significant compliance issues.”
The move is a step in the right direction for hemp products, but currently there is no word yet on expanding this new update to other states.
Historically, there have been negative interactions between Google and cannabis-related content. In 2016, a Minnesota-based medical cannabis company battled Google for banning online advertising for having “dangerous products and services.” In the same year, Google saw a 75% increase in cannabis searches online and allowed the promotion of games about the war on drugs on Google Play.
In 2017, Google Docs temporarily incorrectly labeled documents containing anything related to cannabis (although this event was attributed to a coding error and was quickly fixed).
In July 2019, Google announced: cannabis products will be banned From the app store, and at the height of the vaping craze later that year, Apple also removed all vaping-related apps from the iOS store.
