An ad from the Libertarian Party which advocates the legalization of marijuana was banned by the social media giant Facebook.

Initially the ad (pictured on the left) was accepted by Facebook on July 15; however a week later on July 22, Facebook revoked the ad stating “The image of this ad is either irrelevant or inappropriate.”

The Libertarian Party (LP) asserts that its ad is not intended to promote marijuana itself, but rather to take a position on the high-profile political question of legalizing marijuana. The issue is particularly relevant now, as a major marijuana legalization measure (Proposition 19) will be on the ballot in California this November.

Wes Benedict, Executive Director of the LP, commented, “Whether or not the folks at Facebook like marijuana, we think they should end their ridiculous censorship of our ad, which expresses the Libertarian position on a political issue of interest to many people.”

Benedict continued, “We recognize Facebook’s right to control their content and censor whoever they want. But we’re also exercising our First Amendment right to complain about their bad decision, and to alert other consumers to put pressure on them.”

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