A message from Arend Richard, co-founder and creative director:
It is with a heavy heart that I am here to tell you all that WeedTube will be closing down on April 2nd, 2023.
It’s been 5 years, almost to the day, since a group of friends and content creators that were deleted from YouTube joined together to start WeedTube with the help of the community. In the time since, we grew the platform to the largest social network of cannabis lovers in the world. With nearly a million app downloads, and millions of unique users watching content, the platform was thriving.
In the past year there has been a significant ease of restrictions from other social platforms towards this type of content. Couple that with the rising illegal activity that the team is fighting against everyday on the platform and with the cost of data storage that has been growing, some decisions had to be made.
As a leader I had to decide whether to let the remaining finances continue to deplete for a small glimmer of hope that more investment would come through at the last minute, or to take care of the team members who have worked diligently for the last several years. After a few weeks of consideration, I’ve decided that the bottom line for me (and hopefully the community) is the people. So I decided to notify the team, offer everyone severances to help them get ahead, and asked for their help in giving the WT community a proper goodbye. Thanks to their loving agreement, we will be spending the rest of March doing our best to say goodbye, and help content creators get their content that they may want.
In closing of this community I would like to say…
This platform served an incredibly important purpose. I am honored to have dedicated a majority of my life over the last 5 years to making this platform a reality for a community that needed it. I’m even more grateful for the team that was built along the way and the incomparable work they’ve all done.
To the Community, with so much love, we will be together again someday in some capacity. Our like minds and shared love for the plant will ensure that. Keep pushing for the changes you want to see in the world, and remember that change starts with you. Thank you for every piece of creativity you shared on this platform, thank you for the support you gave other creators, thank you for believing.
To the Team, I am so sorry. I’m sorry we couldn’t make this last forever. I pray to whatever powers will listen to bless each and every one of you with an incredible opportunity as quickly as possible. Some people in this world have jobs. We had the honor of being a team together, and for years no less. There isn’t enough gratitude expressed for the work many of you did behind closed doors and without the recognition you deserved from the community. So on their behalf, thank you once again.
I thank all of you from the absolute bottom of my heart for your time and energy. For many of us this isn’t goodbye, it’s simply the closing of a chapter of a book that we will all continue to share pages of in the future. My love for this community is unending.
With so much love,
- Arend