Last week, search engine giant Google, which is a subsidiary of Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG)(NASDAQ: GOOGL), announced that it would be banning marijuana apps in its Google Play store. As first reported by online publication Marijuana Moment, Alphabet’s subsidiary updated its policy on marijuana to include the following language:
We don’t allow apps that facilitate the sale of marijuana or marijuana products, regardless of legality.
Here are some examples of common violations:
- Allowing users to order marijuana through an in-app shopping cart feature.
- Assisting users in arranging delivery or pick up of marijuana.
- Facilitating the sale of products containing THC [tetrahydrocannabinol].
According to a Google spokesperson who spoke with Marijuana Moment, “These apps simply need to move the shopping cart flow outside of the app itself to be compliant with this new policy.” While this workaround sounds easy enough, it’s nevertheless a step backward for a number of cannabis middlemen services.
For instance, Weedmaps, which allows medical and recreational users to review cannabis strains and find local dispensaries, has been downloaded more than 1 million times in the Google Play store, while the Eaze cannabis delivery app, which is popular in California, has been downloaded in excess of 50,000 times. Both of these sites could be viewed as facilitating the sale of cannabis products, and would, therefore, be forced to change their strategy, at least with regard to the Google Play store.
With Google’s app store being hit with a Federal Trade Commission complaint over its marketing practices to kids this past December, Marijuana Moment opines that this move by Alphabet’s subsidiary was made to shore up its image in light of tighter regulations.