{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,11,5]],"date-time":"2026-11-05T08:12:37Z","timestamp":1793866357307,"version":"4.6.1"},"reference-count":21,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,30]],"date-time":"2023-12-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1703894400000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000054","name":"National Cancer Institute","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["P01CA200512"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["P01CA200512"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000054","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100010628","name":"Center for Tobacco Products","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["U54 CA180905"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["U54 CA180905"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100010628","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100010628","name":"Center for Tobacco Products","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["U54-DA046060-01"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["U54-DA046060-01"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100010628","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100010628","name":"Center for Tobacco Products","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["U54CA228110"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["U54CA228110"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100010628","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000050","name":"National Heart Lung and Blood Institute","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["U54 HL147127-06"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["U54 HL147127-06"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000050","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Tob Control"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,15]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,5]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n<jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>The social media conglomerate, Meta, has a policy prohibiting promotion of tobacco products, vaporisers, electronic cigarettes or other products that simulate smoking via their branded content tools. This study examines if branded Instagram posts comply with these self-regulatory efforts.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec>\n<jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>We analysed the presence and content of tobacco\/nicotine promotion, as well as counter-marketing, in a sample of 400 branded\/paid partnership-labelled Instagram posts with tobacco\/nicotine-related terms made between 31 July 2022 and 31 March 2023, gathered from Meta\u2019s CrowdTangle tool and classified by CrowdTangle as being in English.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec>\n<jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Of the 217 active branded posts that mentioned or depicted tobacco\/nicotine products, most promoted rather than countered the sale of such products (84.3% vs 15.7%, respectively). Posts originating from US Instagram users accounted for 42.6% of promotional content. After the USA, posts from Indonesia (19.1%), Pakistan (9.8%) and India (8.2%) were most frequent. Most posts were fully in English (74.9%). Posts featured hookah (39.4%), electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) accessories (17.5%), ENDS devices and e-liquids (16.9%) and various types of cigars (15.3%). The majority of US posts promoted venues or events where tobacco\/nicotine products were featured (71.8%). Almost half of all promotional posts (47.0%) were sponsored by tobacco industry accounts. Posts that encouraged cessation were primarily (47.1%) sponsored by non-government organisations.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec>\n<jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Despite attempts at self-regulation, paid partnership posts promoting tobacco and nicotine products are present on Instagram, especially posts promoting venues and events that feature tobacco and nicotine use. Self-regulation of this content shows limited success, suggesting a need for federal oversight and additional counter-marketing in social media settings.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1136\/tc-2023-058301","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,30]],"date-time":"2023-12-30T13:20:21Z","timestamp":1703942421000},"page":"369-373","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":11,"title":["Tobacco, nicotine and counter-marketing promotions using Instagram\u2019s branded content tool"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"34","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3272-9317","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Linnea","family":"Laestadius","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Zilber College of Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kelsey","family":"Van Hoorn","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Zilber College of Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3002-2000","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Julia","family":"Vassey","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2543-561X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jenny","family":"Ozga","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Behavioral Health and Health Policy Practice, Westat Inc, Rockville, Maryland, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5329-6261","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Cassandra","family":"Stanton","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Behavioral Health and Health Policy Practice, Westat Inc, Rockville, Maryland, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9140-2483","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dongmei","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical and Translational Research, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Eileen","family":"Han","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Daniel","family":"Romer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Annenberg Public Policy Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"2025101704051677000_34.3.369.1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/tc-2022-057348"},{"key":"2025101704051677000_34.3.369.2","unstructured":"Instagram . Branded Content Policies, Available: https:\/\/help.instagram.com\/1695974997209192 [Accessed 11 Jun 2023]."},{"key":"2025101704051677000_34.3.369.3","unstructured":"Cavale S . Instagram bans Influencers from promoting Vaping products. Reuters 2019. Available: https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-instagram-vaping\/instagram-bans-influencers-from-promoting-vaping-products-idUSKBN1YN15B [Accessed 11 Jun 2023]."},{"key":"2025101704051677000_34.3.369.4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.18001\/TRS.6.5.5"},{"key":"2025101704051677000_34.3.369.5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ausmj.2020.03.002"},{"key":"2025101704051677000_34.3.369.6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijresmar.2021.09.006"},{"key":"2025101704051677000_34.3.369.7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Shuqair S , Viglia G , Costa Pinto D , et al . Reducing resistance to sponsorship disclosure: the role of experiential versus material posts. Journal of Travel Research 2023. doi:10.1177\/00472875231171668","DOI":"10.1177\/00472875231171668"},{"key":"2025101704051677000_34.3.369.8","unstructured":"Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids . New investigation exposes how tobacco companies market cigarettes on social media in the U.S. and around the world. 2018. Available: https:\/\/www.tobaccofreekids.org\/press-releases\/2018_08_27_ftc [Accessed 2 Jun 2023]."},{"key":"2025101704051677000_34.3.369.9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1090198118779131"},{"key":"2025101704051677000_34.3.369.10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/ntr\/ntaa092"},{"key":"2025101704051677000_34.3.369.11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Schreier M . Qualitative Content Analysis in Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2012.","DOI":"10.4135\/9781529682571"},{"key":"2025101704051677000_34.3.369.12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"276","DOI":"10.11613\/BM.2012.031","article-title":"Interrater reliability: the Kappa Statistic","volume":"22","author":"McHugh","year":"2012","journal-title":"Biochem Med"},{"key":"2025101704051677000_34.3.369.13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/tobaccocontrol-2018-054499"},{"key":"2025101704051677000_34.3.369.14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/tobaccocontrol-2021-056551"},{"key":"2025101704051677000_34.3.369.15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.2196\/21963","article-title":"Electronic cigarette\u2013related contents on Instagram: observational study and exploratory analysis","volume":"6","author":"Gao","year":"2020","journal-title":"JMIR Public Health Surveill"},{"key":"2025101704051677000_34.3.369.16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2022.1012727"},{"key":"2025101704051677000_34.3.369.17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Laestadius L , Witt A . Instagram Revisited. In: Sloan L , Quan-Haase A , eds. SAGE Handbook of Social Media Research Methods. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2022: 581\u201397. doi:10.4135\/9781529782943","DOI":"10.4135\/9781529782943.n41"},{"key":"2025101704051677000_34.3.369.18","unstructured":"CrowdTangle . What data is CrowdTangle Tracking? 2023, 19 July . 2023 Available: https:\/\/help.crowdtangle.com\/en\/articles\/1140930-what-data-is-crowdtangle-tracking"},{"key":"2025101704051677000_34.3.369.19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/tobaccocontrol-2017-054175"},{"key":"2025101704051677000_34.3.369.20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1001\/jamapediatrics.2015.4501"},{"key":"2025101704051677000_34.3.369.21","unstructured":"U.S. Federal Trade Commission . FTC imposes $5 billion penalty and sweeping new privacy restrictions on Facebook. 2019. Available: https:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/news-events\/news\/press-releases\/2019\/07\/ftc-imposes-5-billion-penalty-sweeping-new-privacy-restrictions-facebook (accessed 11 Jun 2023"}],"container-title":["Tobacco Control"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/tobaccocontrol.bmj.com\/syndication\/doi\/10.1136\/tc-2023-058301","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"syndication"},{"URL":"https:\/\/syndication.highwire.org\/content\/doi\/10.1136\/tc-2023-058301","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,17]],"date-time":"2025-10-17T11:25:40Z","timestamp":1760700340000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/tobaccocontrol.bmj.com\/lookup\/doi\/10.1136\/tc-2023-058301"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,30]]},"references-count":21,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,15]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,5]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1136\/tc-2023-058301"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/tc-2023-058301","relation":{},"ISSN":["0964-4563","1468-3318"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0964-4563","type":"print"},{"value":"1468-3318","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,30]]}}}