Youtube Shutting Down Cannabis Channels

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]I[/dropcap]t’s been said before, but it bears repeating: It ain’t easy being green. And for the last month, the community of cannabis content creators on YouTube have been the latest to suffer.

Normally, for content creators, hits are a good thing. But the global video platform, YouTube, has been lashing out with a sweep of channel shutdowns, even though many of the channels have been around for years and have thousands of subscribers. But this isn’t an anomaly, and the recent loss of cannabis channels echoes back to Facebook’s cannabis crackdown in 2016.

Although cannabis is gaining greater acceptance in popular culture, YouTube’s actions—prompted without public announcement—are testament to the hurdles that remain. Earlier in the year YouTube declared it would update its community standards and guidelines, with enforcement beginning in April. However, this was largely understood to be protocol inspired by the string of mass shootings and firearm related crimes. During the ensuing debate on gun control, the global video platform announced it would ban firearms demos and any links to websites selling firearms or promoting them.

“We routinely make updates and adjustments to our enforcement guidelines across all of our policies,” a YouTube spokeswoman said in a statement for Bloomberg. “While we’ve long prohibited the sale of firearms, we recently notified creators of updates we will be making around content promoting the sale or manufacture of firearms and their accessories.”

It seems that the dangers of cannabis now rival that of guns. And any promotion of cannabis is equivalent to demonstrating methods of firearm assembly and firing. But what constitutes promotion of cannabis isn’t clear and educational channels, as well as entertainment channels, are being shut down without distinction. YouTube channel, “That High Couple,” was caught up in the crossfire.

“YouTube’s reason for suspending our channel was that we ‘broke community guidelines,’” That High Couple said in a statement for Leafly. “There was no specific reason, only a generic list that it could be because we were promoting violence, illegal drug use, creating spam content, etc.”

But That High Couple suspects the policy change involves a bottom line.

“YouTube can’t make ad revenue from cannabis content,” the couple said. “Last year, YouTube went through what most are calling ‘the Adpocalypse,’ where many top advertisers were seeing their ads play before content that was inappropriate and damaging to their brand. Once the money started leaving, YouTube updated their algorithm to prevent ‘unsuitable’ content from getting ads delivered against their content and the whole system has been crumbling ever since.”

YouTube hasn’t made any comments. But That High Couple’s channel has since been reactivated, also without explanation.