The tobacco industry is investing heavily in social networks to advertise and spread false information

A meta-analysis[1] A study by the US-based Truth Initiative shows that the tobacco industry is using social media to advertise new tobacco and nicotine products, circumvent US restrictions on flavoured products and spread misinformation about nicotine.

Current regulations and policies on tobacco and nicotine product advertising are challenged by the rapid evolution of social media and the introduction of new products. According to the authors of the analysis, this situation allows the tobacco industry to take advantage of the existing gray area to spread misinformation and recruit new consumers. Research shows that exposure to tobacco and related product content on social media doubles the risks of these products among young people compared to those who are not exposed to it.

Exposure to vaping content on social media is associated with both lower risk perception and increased likelihood of initiation and habitual use of vaping products[2]-[3].

Significant online misinformation

Social media is a powerful tool for the tobacco industry to spread misinformation about the dangers of its products. This presence on social media can weaken public support for tobacco control policies designed to protect public health.

While the public still has negative perceptions of the tobacco industry, Truth Initiative is concerned that the tobacco industry is taking advantage of scientific misinformation, which has been on the rise since the COVID-19 pandemic on social media, to subtly change those perceptions.[4].

Research by the organization has shown that misinformation about nicotine’s supposed “protective” role against COVID-19 is being spread on social media, even though scientific data shows otherwise and that smokers are overrepresented among the pandemic’s victims. Tweets supporting misinformation that nicotine has a protective effect against COVID-19 were shared 20 times more often than tweets refuting these claims.

The researchers also found that belief in misleading claims about nicotine, particularly regarding COVID-19, was linked to more positive beliefs about the tobacco industry.

Misleading information spread through social media can contribute to public confusion about the health risks posed by nicotine and new tobacco and nicotine products, particularly among youth. A separate study found that young adults had little awareness of the dangers of nicotine, with many mistakenly believing that nicotine is no more harmful than a cup of coffee or that it is only addictive when smoked from a manufactured cigarette.[5].

Social media used to promote new tobacco and vaping products

The tobacco industry is promoting its new tobacco and vaping products across multiple online channels, adapting to target audiences and currently trending platforms. A study^[6] documented heated tobacco marketing on Twitter between 2016 and 2021. It showed that over this period, the number of Twitter posts about new heated tobacco products such as IQOS, Ploom, and Glo doubled, and the majority of commercial tweets (those from tobacco companies) were replaced by organic posts (from individuals not affiliated with the tobacco industry). Organic tweets outnumbered commercial tweets by nearly 3x in 2021 compared to 2016, suggesting that an initial marketing push by commercial accounts saturated the conversation around heated tobacco products on Twitter, raised awareness of the product, and successfully generated organic posts and word-of-mouth content.

Spikes in social media conversations have coincided with news of regulatory decisions about products, such as when the FDA approved IQOS for sale in the United States or when the FDA approved IQOS for marketing as a modified-risk product. By using Twitter to promote heated tobacco, tobacco companies are primarily seeking to target policymakers and journalists to influence public health policy and position themselves as trusted actors.

Vaping products, on the other hand, are promoted more on more visual networks like Instagram, and brands are using influencers to advertise them. According to a 2023 study by Truth, influencers promoting vaping products rarely mentioned any collaboration with a brand. They rarely included health warning labels about the addictive potential of nicotine, and even featured cartoon imagery that appealed to young people.[7]Similar findings were noted by the CNCT, which reported them in a report published in February 2023.[8] which indicates that major tobacco companies used influencers from 2019 to 2021 in France to promote vaping products on Instagram. The ads highlighted the availability of menthol flavors for vaping, following the ban on menthol in traditional cigarettes and rolling tobacco in the European Union in May 2020. The influencers identified did not mention their collaboration in the posts.

Social media used to circumvent flavor ban

After the FDA removed flavored cartridge-based e-cigarettes from the market in the United States in 2020, the tobacco industry immediately pivoted its social media marketing to promote other flavored vaping products not covered by the ban, including flavored disposable e-cigarettes, which have skyrocketed in popularity.

Truth’s research found that more than 40% of vaping product sellers’ Instagram posts promoted flavored products, while more than 2,000 posts openly mentioned alternatives to restricted flavored products or strategies to evade flavor sales restrictions implemented in 2020.

According to another study by Truth published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health[9], many e-cigarette users have turned to social media, particularly Reddit, to circumvent the flavor ban. The researchers identified over 166,000 posts and comments between May 2019 and May 2020 on the r/JUUL subreddit (the most popular e-cigarette in the United States in 2018–2019). Using keyword filters, they accessed discussions specifically about flavored e-cigarettes and strategies for circumventing flavor restrictions. Of the 166,000 posts and comments, 33,000 were identified as being relevant to flavors, while 7,500 were explicit discussions about how to evade the FDA policy.

Keywords: Truth Initiative, social media, digital marketing, nicotine, misinformation, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, vaping, heated tobacco

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[1] Industry influencer: how tobacco content is infiltrating social media, Truth Initiative, published July 20, 2023, accessed July 24

[2] Pike JR, Tan N, Miller S, Cappelli C, Xie B, Stacy AW. The effect of e-cigarette commercials on youth smoking: a prospective study. Am J Health Behav. (2019) 43:1103–18. doi: 10.5993/AJHB.43.6.8

[3] Papaleontiou L, Agaku IT, Filippidis FT. Effects of exposure to tobacco and electronic cigarette advertisements on tobacco use: an analysis of the 2015 national youth tobacco survey. J Adolesc Health Off Publ Soc Adolesc Med. (2020) 66:64–71. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2019.05.022

[4] Silver N, Kierstead E, Kostygina G, Tran H, Briggs J, Emery S, Schillo B. The Influence of Provaping "Gatewatchers" on the Dissemination of COVID-19 Misinformation on Twitter: Analysis of Twitter Discourse Regarding Nicotine and the COVID-19 Pandemic. J Med Internet Res. 2022 Sep 22;24(9):e40331. doi:10.2196/40331. PMID: 36070451; PMCID: PMC9506503.

[5] Silver NA, Kierstead EC, Briggs J, Schillo B. Charming e-cigarette users with distorted science: a survey examining social media platform use, nicotine-related misinformation and attitudes towards the tobacco industry. BMJ Open. 2022 Jun 1;12(6):e057027. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-057027. PMID: 35649587; PMCID: PMC9160585.

[6] Twitter marketing on new heated tobacco products transforms into word-of-mouth conversations, Truth Initiative, published December 15, 2022, accessed July 24, 2023

[7] Silver Nathan A., Bertrand Adrian, Kucherlapaty Padmini, Schillo Barbara A., Examining influencing compliance with advertising regulations in branded vaping content on Instagram, Frontiers in Public Health, Volume 10, 2023, DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2022.1001115

[8] CNCT, New tobacco and nicotine products, Market evolution through the advertising phenomenon in France 2020 – 2022, published on February 13, 2023, consulted on July 24, 2023

[9] Silver, N.; Kucherlapaty, P.; Kostygina, G.; Tran, H.; Feng, M.; Emery, S.; Schillo, B. Discussions of Flavored ENDS Sales Restrictions: Themes Related to Circumventing Policies on Reddit. Int. J. Approx. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 7668. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19137668