Governor Hochul to call on social media giants to crack down on illegal Marijuana shops
Governor Kathy Hochul is planning to call out major social media platforms, accusing them of promoting illegal marijuana shops in New York.
It's a problem the state and city have struggled to combat.
The governor is expected to call on tech giants such as Meta and Google to stop the promotion of illegal cannabis shops on their platforms.
There have been several calls for action from the cannabis industry, as they say this hurts legal operators and takes dollars away from the state.
At Wednesday's press conference, she'll be joined by licensed cannabis operators.
Governor Hochul is expected to demand Google Maps stop directing users to shops, complete with reviews that may appear to normalize illegal activities.
It could be hard for any user to tell the difference between licensed businesses and illegal stores with numbers, links, and addresses that only would lure customers in.
Meta which operates Instagram and Facebook said in a previous statement in part that they, "prohibit content in both ads and organic pages that promotes the buying and selling of drugs including marijuana."
While there are 77 licensed cannabis retailers in the state, the city estimates at least 1,500 retailers are operating illegally.
At Wednesday's 12:15 p.m. announcement, other enforcement efforts that may steer this industry in the right direction are expected to be detailed.
