The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a motion Tuesday to “deplatform” illegal cannabis dispensaries, seeking their removal from Google, Yelp and other online platforms.
Introduced by Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, the measure instructs multiple county agencies to prepare written reports within three months on potential steps to stop unauthorized cannabis advertising — including online marketing — in the county’s unincorporated areas.
Approved 5-0 as part of Tuesday’s consent agenda, the measure also directs five county leaders to write and sign a letter calling on several popular websites “to voluntarily cease advertising illegal cannabis dispensaries in the County.”
The goal is to encourage the operators of Yelp, Google, and other platforms to differentiate between licensed and unlicensed cannabis dispensaries, enabling consumers to make informed decisions about where to shop.
Online giants such as Alphabet, the parent company of Google, as well as Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, have voluntarily removed ads and other content in the past in response to reports of political misinformation and other serious violations of their terms of use. But recent developments in New York demonstrate that it’s not always easy to compel such platforms to remove content.
In February, Gov. Kathy Hochul pleaded with Google and Yelp to de-list illegitimate cannabis dispensaries as the state began to see the rollout of its nascent recreational cannabis industry, as the Associated Press reported at the time. Initial results were not promising, as many illicit dispensaries remained on the sites while some of New York’s fledgling legal dispensaries were repeatedly de-listed.
Alphabet, Meta and Yelp did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Illegal dispensaries undercut their legitimate counterparts in communities across California by skirting testing and licensing requirements, not paying taxes, and otherwise avoiding regulation,…