Leading US tobacco brands are flouting platform and federal marketing policies designed to restrict young people's access to their content on the popular social media platform Instagram, indicates research published online in the journal Tobacco Control.
Violations include lax or missing age verification, disclosure on brand-influencer relationships, and health warnings, the findings show.
In 2024, around 2.25 million middle and high school students reported having used a tobacco or nicotine product in the past 30 days. That's nearly 550,000 fewer than in 2023, but still leaves millions of teen nicotine users, underscoring the ongoing need for policy and prevention efforts, emphasise the researchers.
Most existing research on tobacco-related social media data has summarised themes, content types, and the prevalence of pro-tobacco messaging, note the researchers. But few studies have assessed compliance with specific federal or platform level marketing policies designed to restrict young people's access to such content, they add.
To plug this knowledge gap, the researchers retrospectively collected 1654 Instagram posts relating to e-cigarettes, cigarettes, and nicotine pouches, and posted between October 2022 and the end of September 2024.
These were collected from the main pages and tagged sections of 6 leading tobacco brand accounts, based on market share data and consumer reviews: Vuse; Lost Mary; ZYN; Velo; Lucky Strike; and Winston.
The posts were analysed and coded for compliance with Instagram, Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) marketing policies, including age verification, financial disclosure for influencers/celebrities with at least 10,000 followers, presence of required health warnings ('contains nicotine', for example), and restricted URL links.
To test Instagram's age-gating policy, one of the researchers created a new Instagram account registered to a fictitious user under the age of 21. Instagram requires users to enter a birth date during account setup, which determines access to age-restricted content.
The researcher then systematically clicked on the associated URL link. Posts that were accessible without age verification were recorded as non-compliant.
Instagram also prohibits content or posts that directly sell, link to, or facilitate access to branded tobacco products.To evaluate this policy, coders reviewed the account profile
associated with each post and coded it for the presence of URL links to affiliate pages, products, and services. The percentage of posts with account profiles that contained such URL links, indicating non-compliance, was recorded.
The analysis revealed major gaps in enforcement. Over two thirds (69.5%;1148) of the posts contained URL links to commercial tobacco websites. Unrestricted access to tobacco content was observed among nearly half (47%; 772) of the posts, which came from 2 brands: Lucky Strike and Lost Mary.
"This is particularly concerning given that Lost Mary has been shown to use marketing tactics in their Instagram posts that may be appealing to youth (eg, featuring flavoured products and use of bright colours)," note the researchers.
Influencers or celebrities appeared in nearly 1 in 5 (19%; 317) posts, of which nearly 42% (132) didn't disclose a financial relationship between the brand and the influencer or celebrity. These posts received the highest average number of likes (115).
Influencers or celebrities who partnered with Vuse and Velo inconsistently disclosed their financial relationship across multiple posts; and 88% (278) of influencer or celebrity-related posts contained URL links.
Nearly three quarters (73%;1200) of posts carried a health warning label, but only just over 41% (683) carried an age warning label. Only a few posts related to unsubstantiated health claims (less than 1%; 15).
The researchers acknowledge that the findings relate to data collected during a specific time frame and for 6 brands only. The findings may therefore not apply to subsequent periods of time, other brands, or other social media platforms. Nor were the researchers able to confirm if an actual financial relationship existed between an influencer's account and a brand.
But they point out: "Despite platform-specific policies restricting access to promotional tobacco content and prohibiting direct sales, posts contained links to commercial tobacco websites, suggesting inconsistent enforcement of Instagram's age-gating and commerce policies.
"Federal policies require transparency in advertising, including in influencer-brand partnerships, yet influencer-related posts lacked proper FTC-mandated disclosures of financial relationships.
"Additionally, compliance with FDA regulations on health warnings was inconsistent, as a portion of posts failed to contain the required nicotine addiction warnings."
They add: "Taken together, these findings highlight ongoing concerns regarding tobacco posts on Instagram, compliance with existing policies, and the potential impact of these posts on shaping youth pro-tobacco-related attitudes and behaviours."
And they conclude: "These findings underscore the need for tobacco control policies to regulate direct promotions and address the role of marketing tactics that contribute to youth tobacco normalisation."
