Facebook's parent company Meta has banned advertising by Legalise Cannabis Victoria (LCV), leaving party officials at a loss to explain the decision and prompting them to contact the Human Rights Commissioner.
The social media company cited violations of its community safety guidelines as the reason for the removal, a claim LCV has rejected outright.
Among the blocked content were ads relating to the first reading of the party's Regulation of Personal Adult Use of Cannabis Bill 2023 across three states, along with a hemp policy post on LCV MP David Ettershank's account.
The restrictions have extended beyond Facebook to affect the party's Instagram presence as well.
A party spokesperson described the situation as an ongoing "issue" that officials have been working to resolve without success.
"Meta has removed multiple 'ads' including material about hemp as well as updates about the bill," the spokesperson said. "They have taken down tiles that include text and an image featuring the words 'medicinal cannabis'.
"The ban has occurred on Instagram and Facebook in a number of ways including in searches for the party.
"Meta has said we're breaking community safety guidelines [but] we have reviewed such guidelines and haven't been able to ascertain how we have done so."
Party staff have contacted Meta seeking clarification, but responses have been scarce.
"After interactions with a Meta ad manager got us nowhere, we reached out to a Meta communications official on several occasions. Unfortunately, we have not heard back," the spokesperson said. "We've been going around in circles."
Having exhausted those avenues, the party escalated the matter to the Human Rights Commissioner and also sought intervention from the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC), which declined to act.
The VEC told The Age it had no power to get involved and held no authority over "the policies, procedures, or algorithms of social media platforms or companies".
In the same report, LCV MP Rachel Payne said: "My colleagues and myself are being unfairly treated and discriminated against through Meta's refusal to allow us to advertise, post stories about our party [and] even hiding our pages so that people cannot find us through searches."
