Meet The Woman Who Rallied For Cannabis-Friendly Change At Twitter, Alexa Alianiello

Cannabis companies struggle to find marketing channels. Social media platforms like Facebook (Meta) and Instagram (also owned by Meta) are notorious for their strict policies against cannabis marketing content.

Until recently, Twitter only permitted CBD-related marketing if the products were topical, not consumable. That all changed when Twitter updated its cannabis policies, thanks to cannabis advocate and industry insider Alexa Alianiello.

Without her dedication and tireless effort to make Twitter a more cannabis-friendly space, this praised policy change wouldn’t exist. Although Twitter still has a few rules regarding what cannabis companies can and can’t do, Alianiello’s cannabis advocacy has granted us the first social media platform to allow cannabis marketing.

Under Twitter’s updated cannabis policies, the company allows cannabis advertising for brands and products if they abide by the following:

• Obtaining proper licensing
• Passing Twitter’s approval process
• Only marketing to regions where they are licensed to operate
• Never marketing toward those 21 years old and under

Thanks to Alianiello, cannabis companies can use Twitter to connect with consumers, market products, share information, and build stronger communities. Until recently, Elon Musk’s social media platform banned cannabis-related marketing, considering the plant is still illegal at a federal level.

However, even states like Colorado and California, where recreational cannabis is legal, couldn’t use the platform as they wished. That is until Alianiello took the bull by the horns. Besides her cannabis advocacy, she’s worked positions in Twitter’s sensitive categories and realized that cannabis companies could use the platform as an opportunity for responsible marketing.

Alianiello, who currently handles U.S. sales and partnerships at Twitter, shared in a blog post that cannabis conversations on Twitter in the United States are “larger than the conversation around topics such as pets, cooking, and golf, as well as food and beverage categories including fast food, coffee, and liquor.”

Her role in Twitter’s recent policy change was instrumental. She took it upon herself, on behalf of the cannabis industry, to inform Twitter representatives, draft policy proposals to prompt change, and gather support from businesses and cannabis advocates. Today, the cannabis industry has her to thank.

In states where cannabis is legal, companies now have permission to market brands and products, making Twitter the new number-one cannabis marketing channel.

Social media platforms are notorious for outright banning cannabis marketing content. For years, companies struggled to find ways to promote their brand and products while avoiding hurdles like account deactivation, deleted posts, and warnings.

Thanks to Alexa Alianiello’s tireless cannabis advocacy at Twitter, the platform is now welcoming our legal industry with open arms.