Facebook Bans Pot Leaf in Ads

Dubs image 'illegal content'
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 25, 2010 1:43 PM CDT
Facebook Bans Pot Leaf in Ads
The leaves of a marijuana plant are seen as Kentucky State Police and Kentucky National Guard troops search hillsides near Barbourvillle, Ky., for the plants Wed., July 22, 2009.   (AP Photo/Roger Alford)

You might think Facebook, a site that got its start catering to college kids, would be marijuana-friendly—but you’d be wrong. The social networking giant has rejected an advertisement from the “Just Say Now” legalization campaign, explaining that it contained the image of a marijuana leaf, and thus violated its policy against “illegal content.” Just Say Now is furious, accusing Facebook of censoring political speech, the LA Times reports.

“We’re not allowed to show the image of the candidate that we are advancing,” said a blogger from Firedoglake, which is involved in the campaign. “That’s why we’re calling out Facebook for this really backwards decision.” Facebook says the advocates could still issue an ad, as long as they used some other image. The page for California’s pot legalization campaign, for example, uses an image of the sun, to, in the words of a spokeswoman, “symbolize hope, change, new day, new horizon.” (More marijuana stories.)

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