Social Platforms Shape Opposition To E-Cigarette Campaigns

Researchers at NORC analyzed Twitter (2014–2020) and TikTok (2020–2023) posts tied to major US youth e-cigarette prevention campaigns, using machine learning classification and human coding to detect oppositional content. They found opposition comprised 26.8% of campaign-related Twitter posts but only 3.5% on TikTok, with Twitter opposition coordinated by advocacy/commercial accounts and TikTok opposition decentralized and humor-driven. Findings recommend platform-specific monitoring and creator partnerships.