Industry Influencer: How Tobacco Content is Infiltrating Social Media

Theoretical Background and research questions/hypothesis: Young people in the U.S. are going online more than ever, where they increasingly encounter pervasive tobacco misinformation in a loosely regulated social media landscape. Social media posts are today’s new tobacco ads, and current tobacco advertising regulations and policies do not fully cover today’s rapidly evolving social media and tobacco product landscape. The tobacco industry is taking advantage of a gray area on social media to spread misinformation and ultimately recruit new tobacco users. Past research has shown that exposure to tobacco content on social media doubles the odds of tobacco use among young people compared to those who are not exposed.

Methods: This report highlights a growing body of research on the ways that new tobacco products and new social media platforms are introducing and hooking younger generations to nicotine products. The report covers several peer-reviewed publications from Truth Initiative authors.

Results: Truth Initiative research suggests that the tobacco industry is using social media platforms popular with young people to advertise tobacco products, dominate tobacco-related conversations, evade flavored tobacco restrictions, and spread misinformation about tobacco in an online environment already overrun with questionable information. Vaping advocates largely control tobacco conversations on social media and magnify misinformation, including false information about the relationship between COVID-19 and tobacco. The spread of misinformation about nicotine is a serious concern: many young adults aren’t aware of the dangers of nicotine, and those who believe misinformation about nicotine also tend to have positive perceptions of the tobacco industry as well as higher rates of relapses in quitting vaping. The tobacco industry is using social media to undercut tobacco regulations at every opportunity: the tobacco industry as well as e-cigarette users frequently turn to social media to find legal alternatives to flavored e-cigarettes when faced with tightening regulations.

Conclusions: Misinformation about tobacco is flooding social media platforms and shaping the narrative about tobacco products, with the tobacco industry taking a lead role in seeding misinformation that others spread. The tobacco industry’s use of social media platforms popular with young people to market tobacco products and spread misinformation about tobacco calls for immediate, strong regulation, monitoring and public attention.

Implications for research and/or practice: Loosely enforced social media marketing restrictions give the tobacco industry a chance to chip away at decades of progress made in reducing tobacco advertising, especially in the current online era of rampant misinformation. Given what we know about the tobacco industry’s past dishonesty, the tobacco industry’s tactics on social media need to be recognized as deceptive attempts to regain public trust and sow misinformation – all in a desperate effort to recruit new tobacco users, amplify sales, and turn a profit.