The video game streaming platform Twitch, which was purchased by Amazon in 2014, recently released an update to its Branded Content Guidelines, which includes prohibition of sponsorships of cannabis products or brands.

Initially, Twitch released new rules on branded content on June 6. It prohibited “burned in” logos on streamer videos and displays. The announcement was met with fierce criticism from Twitch streamers who voiced their opinions about how the change would affect their ability to have direct relationships with sponsors. 

By June 7, Twitch released a statement explaining that they would be removing the guidelines. “Yesterday, we released new Branded Content Guidelines that impacted your ability to work with sponsors to increase your income from streaming. These guidelines are bad for you and bad for Twitch, and we are removing them immediately,” Twitch wrote on Twitter. “…We missed the mark with the policy language and will rewrite the guidelines to be clearer. Thank you for sharing your concerns, and we appreciate the feedback. We’ll notify the community once we have updated the language,” it wrote.

Twitch’s current Branded Content Guidelines explain that branded content is defined as “streamers featuring products or services based on an exchange of value, such as being paid or receiving goods or services.” This ranges from product placements, endorsements, channel sponsorships, and more. Under the banned product categories, Twitch describes that it does not allow any services that are in violation of its Community Guidelines, such as risky gambling products, unauthorized sharing of private information, and “Illegal Products and Services, such as selling, advertising, or trafficking drugs, firearms, counterfeit goods, or other illegal goods and services.”

It further mentions that streamers may not feature sponsored content that includes weapons, adult-oriented items, tobacco products, political content, and “Cannabis-related products, including vaping and delivery.”

According to content creator JimTanna, who streams on Twitch and releases videos on YouTube, addressed the mention of a ban of cannabis sponsorships, but the continued allowance for alcohol brand sponsorship. “But what is weird, and what is allowed—you can still promote alcohol. I just don’t understand what the hell is going on. We can promote alcohol but we can’t promote legal cannabis?” JimTanna said. “…Let the content creators live. Let us smoke our weed. Let us promote the products.”

Although Twitch announced that it wouldn’t follow through with its planned policy, it still sent out an email requiring all Twitch Partners to sign the updated agreement by their “next contract effective date,” which includes the updated Brand Content Guidelines. If they choose not to accept the terms, their “current contract will terminate” and have their Twitch Partner status reduced to Twitch Affiliate until they choose to accept the policy terms. Should they seek to leave the platform entirely in search of streaming on a competition streaming platform, an affiliate would be forced to pay $25 to Twitch in order to do so.

JimTanna adds that these new rules do not prevent streamers from smoking on their streams freely, but it is specifically geared toward sponsorships of cannabis-related products.

Previously, Twitch implemented other changes to prevent usernames with “references to hard drugs, recreational drugs, and drug abuse,” with the exception of “alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana” in February 2022. Amazon itself has previously taken steps to update its policy on drug testing in September 2021, and also lobbied for the support of cannabis legalization on a federal level in January 2022.

Over the past few years, other companies have updated their policies on cannabis. Twitter has been refining its policies recently, such as its allowance of cannabis-related ads including THC and CBD. Apple removed and banned vaping-related apps from the iOS store back in November 2019, but an update in 2021 ended any bans that prevented cannabis companies from doing business via the app store.

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The MLB stated in a conference call on June 21 that CBD is now an “approved category” which means that teams are now allowed to sell CBD sponsorships as long as the brand has received an NSF certification (a verification that a product has no THC).

According to Sports Business Journal, MLB Chief Revenue Officer Noah Garden explained the reason for the change. “We’ve been watching this category for a while and waiting for it to mature to the point where we can get comfortable with it,” said Garden. “We told the clubs if you want to do a deal in the CBD category, it will require two things: One is NSF certification—and none of them are there yet, although around three to five [brands] are in process. The other is to get approval from the commissioner’s office…Our fans are very much the kind of customers they are looking for, and we like being first. It’s a good opportunity for us and the clubs. The last few companies that came to see us about this, the process of NSF certification was embraced. That gave us a comfort level to be able to move forward.”

Recently, analysts shared that CBD could generate up to $4.9 billion across the globe in 2022, with a projection of reaching $47 billion by 2028.

The MLB “patch program,” which began in March 2022, allows each team to feature a brand and logo on their team uniforms for on-field players. The San Diego Padres was the first team to embrace this new sponsorship by partnering with Motorola. With this in mind, Garden added that a CBD brand could possibly be featured in a patch deal too. “We are open-minded to doing a patch deal here, depending on the brand and what that brand represents,” Garden said. “It has to have a brand that represents sports.” 

It’s a landmark milestone for CBD in the MLB, but the conversation spans most other sports organizations as well.

NBA athlete Kevin Garnett said in an interview with Sports Business Journal last week following his attendance of the Brand Innovation Summit that was held in Chicago, Illinois on June 13-15, “I think with the emergence and where CBD is going, not only are you going to see a deal [in the NBA], you are going to start see the sponsorships on the jerseys.” Garnett continued, “You are going to start to see a more active role of CBD products actually signing players, both women and men. And then I think you’re going to see the education come out a little more because we’re all looking for it now. I think CBD is here, it’s a disruptor, it has disrupted pharma, as it should, and it’s a great, different solution. If people are not using it, I recommend people to go out and have your own testimonials and your own experiences with it. It really does work.”

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Vice President of Global Partnerships Grant Norris-Jones also spoke at the event on the topic CBD and its benefits for athletes. “It’s a better alternative to addictive products, like pain killers, opioids, and sleeping aids,” said Norris-Jones. “The big problem has been the different standards and practices by our various broadcast partners when it comes to CBDs…In the U.K., [UFC sponsor] Love Hemp is sold in the equivalent of Walgreens and CVS. Here, their activations have to be outside of ESPN currently. So it’s been a lot of digital, social and a brand ambassador program with our athletes.”

The MLB first made waves towards allowing cannabis consumption for athletes over two years ago. Following the events of baseball player Tyler Skaggs who died of an opioid overdose, the organization announced in December 2019 that it would be removing cannabis from its list of “abused drugs” (but would still test for substances such as fentanyl and cocaine).

However, the MLB still said in March 2020 that players may receive punishments for appearing under the influence of cannabis at any practices or games.

The NBA was next to make history when it announced in October 2021 that it would not be testing its athletes for cannabis during the 75th season, which began in October 2021 and ended in May 2022.

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