A loyal customer asked me why he never saw any Tiny Green ads on his Instagram, when we're a perfectly legal business with a shop in Yverdon. The answer is simple and a bit frustrating: it's not our choice – it's simply banned by the platforms themselves.
Meta closes the door, no exceptions
Facebook and Instagram ban all paid advertising for CBD products, with no geographical exceptions. It doesn't matter that the product is perfectly legal in the advertiser's country: Meta's moderation system automatically blocks any ad containing keywords or visuals associated with CBD. It's not even a human assessing case by case – it's an automated filter that doesn't distinguish between our legal Swiss CBD and any other cannabis-based product elsewhere in the world.
TikTok: even stricter
TikTok goes further than Meta. Not only is paid advertising banned, but organic content – videos published normally without an ad budget – is also heavily filtered by its algorithms. A brand that pushes too hard on this front can see its posts removed, its reach reduced to zero, or even its account permanently banned for repeat offences.
Google is no more permissive
Google also bans any advertising promoting the sale of cannabis, including CBD, with very rare exceptions reserved for brands certified by specific bodies for very low-THC topical products. These exceptions apply to very specific markets and don't really apply to a Swiss shop like ours, which sells flowers, oils and much more than topical cosmetics.
Why platforms apply such a broad rule
These giants operate globally, with a single policy applied everywhere rather than rules adapted country by country. Managing legal exceptions for every jurisdiction would be a huge job, and the regulatory or reputational risk of allowing this kind of content is judged too high compared with the benefit. The result: even a fully compliant business like ours is treated exactly like a dubious seller on the other side of the world.
What we do instead
Without access to classic paid advertising, we focus on what's still possible: well-thought-out organic content, this blog you're reading right now, search engine optimisation, word of mouth, and the loyalty of customers who come straight to the shop. It's slower than an ad campaign, but it's the only route really open to a business like ours.
"I thought you just didn't want to invest in advertising. I didn't know it was actually blocked by the platforms themselves, even for a 100% legal product." – a customer of the shop
My straight advice
If you never see ads for CBD shops on your social media, it's neither chance nor a lack of ambition from Swiss brands. It's a technical constraint imposed by platforms that don't do nuance. Until that changes – if it ever does – the best way to follow us is directly through our website and blog.
