Promotion of E-Cigarettes on TikTok and Regulatory Considerations
E-cigarettes are promoted extensively on TikTok and other social media platforms. Platform policies to restrict e-cigarette promotion seem insufficient and are poorly enforced. This paper aims to understand how e-cigarettes are being promoted on TikTok and provide insights into the effectiveness...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2023
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/92028 |
| _version_ | 1848765615338160128 |
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| author | Jancey, Jonine Leaver, Tama Wolf, Katharina Freeman, Becky Chai, Kevin Bialous, Stella Bromberg, Marilyn Adams, Phoebe Mcleod, Meghan Carey, Renee N McCausland, Kahlia |
| author_facet | Jancey, Jonine Leaver, Tama Wolf, Katharina Freeman, Becky Chai, Kevin Bialous, Stella Bromberg, Marilyn Adams, Phoebe Mcleod, Meghan Carey, Renee N McCausland, Kahlia |
| author_sort | Jancey, Jonine |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | E-cigarettes are promoted extensively on TikTok and other social media platforms. Platform
policies to restrict e-cigarette promotion seem insufficient and are poorly enforced. This paper aims to
understand how e-cigarettes are being promoted on TikTok and provide insights into the effectiveness
of current TikTok policies. Seven popular hashtag-based keywords were used to identify TikTok
accounts and associated videos related to e-cigarettes. Posts were independently coded by two trained
coders. Collectively, the 264 videos received 2,470,373 views, 166,462 likes and 3426 comments. The
overwhelming majority of videos (97.7%) portrayed e-cigarettes positively, and these posts received
98.7% of the total views and 98.2% of the total likes. A total of 69 posts (26.1%) clearly violated
TikTok’s own content policy. The findings of the current study suggest that a variety of predominantly
pro-vaping content is available on TikTok. Current policies and moderation processes appear to
be insufficient in restricting the spread of pro-e-cigarette content on TikTok, putting predominantly
young users at potential risk of e-cigarette use. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:38:04Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-92028 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:38:04Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-920282023-06-12T01:52:27Z Promotion of E-Cigarettes on TikTok and Regulatory Considerations Jancey, Jonine Leaver, Tama Wolf, Katharina Freeman, Becky Chai, Kevin Bialous, Stella Bromberg, Marilyn Adams, Phoebe Mcleod, Meghan Carey, Renee N McCausland, Kahlia Vaping e-cigarettes TikTok social media; E-cigarettes are promoted extensively on TikTok and other social media platforms. Platform policies to restrict e-cigarette promotion seem insufficient and are poorly enforced. This paper aims to understand how e-cigarettes are being promoted on TikTok and provide insights into the effectiveness of current TikTok policies. Seven popular hashtag-based keywords were used to identify TikTok accounts and associated videos related to e-cigarettes. Posts were independently coded by two trained coders. Collectively, the 264 videos received 2,470,373 views, 166,462 likes and 3426 comments. The overwhelming majority of videos (97.7%) portrayed e-cigarettes positively, and these posts received 98.7% of the total views and 98.2% of the total likes. A total of 69 posts (26.1%) clearly violated TikTok’s own content policy. The findings of the current study suggest that a variety of predominantly pro-vaping content is available on TikTok. Current policies and moderation processes appear to be insufficient in restricting the spread of pro-e-cigarette content on TikTok, putting predominantly young users at potential risk of e-cigarette use. 2023 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/92028 10.3390/ijerph20105761 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ MDPI AG fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Vaping e-cigarettes TikTok social media; Jancey, Jonine Leaver, Tama Wolf, Katharina Freeman, Becky Chai, Kevin Bialous, Stella Bromberg, Marilyn Adams, Phoebe Mcleod, Meghan Carey, Renee N McCausland, Kahlia Promotion of E-Cigarettes on TikTok and Regulatory Considerations |
| title | Promotion of E-Cigarettes on TikTok and Regulatory Considerations |
| title_full | Promotion of E-Cigarettes on TikTok and Regulatory Considerations |
| title_fullStr | Promotion of E-Cigarettes on TikTok and Regulatory Considerations |
| title_full_unstemmed | Promotion of E-Cigarettes on TikTok and Regulatory Considerations |
| title_short | Promotion of E-Cigarettes on TikTok and Regulatory Considerations |
| title_sort | promotion of e-cigarettes on tiktok and regulatory considerations |
| topic | Vaping e-cigarettes TikTok social media; |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/92028 |