Riveles Wahab LLP partner Kaiser Wahab has been quoted in two US News articles on his thoughts as to why Facebook has recently taken down the pages of several cannabis businesses. The articles focused on the news that Facebook had, without explanation, deleted the Facebook pages of some New Jersey cannabis dispensaries.
In “Is Facebook About to Purge Pot Businesses?”, Kaiser speculated that the takedowns were the result of a newly-adopted company stance arising out of the fear that the advertising displayed next to the business’ pages “could constitute interstate commerce when shown to users outside a pot business’ home state”. Since cannabis remains illegal under federal law, Facebook could potentially face liability as a result. He further dismissed any conspiracy theories that Facebook is “anti-marijuana”, and instead blamed a possible shakeup in its legal team for the shift in the company’s analysis. Some of Kaiser’s insights were repeated in the next day’s follow up article, “Facebook Confirms State-Legal Pot Businesses Risk Deletion”.