THURSDAY, May 23, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- TikTok is full of fun memes, pranks, dances and challenges -- and illicit vaping product sales targeting teenagers, a new study reports. Advertising and sales of vaping products is common on the video-sharing platform, according to findings published May 23 in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research . What’s more, the users offering these items often use hashtags like #puffbundles to hide vaping products within packages also containing lip gloss and candy, the researchers added.
“Parents should be aware that children may be receiving e-cigarette products through the mail. These self-proclaimed small businesses are targeting youth by advertising that they don’t check for identification,” said lead researcher Page Dobbs , an associate professor of public health with the University of Arkansas. Even though vaping is prohibited among minors, an estimated 4.
7 middle school and high school students reported using e-cigarettes in 2023. That’s more than 1 in 6 middle- and high-schoolers. This relatively high rate of vaping among teens led researchers to suspect that social media might be a means by which kids are obtaining e-cigarettes.
Nearly two-thirds of teenagers (63%) used TikTok in 2023, making it a natural place to look for illicit sales and advertising of vaping products, researchers said. For the study, the team identified 475 English language TikTok Videos posted between July 2022 and August 2023 containing popular hash.