Illicit Tobacco Ads Evade Detection on Social Media

Public health organisation Quit says the federal government is barely scratching the surface in its battle against illegal tobacco advertising on social media. Examples of such advertisements have been seen on Facebook, which were reported by users but were not immediately taken down.

After inquiries, a Meta spokesperson said it had removed the content. "We've removed this content and taken action against the accounts and pages behind them for violating our policies," a Meta spokesperson said. "We encourage people to report content that may breach our rules so we can review and take appropriate action."

"Tip of the iceberg"

A Quit spokesperson said social media advertising for tobacco was becoming more common and the Australian government was struggling to manage it. Under the Public Health Act, it is illegal to advertise or promote smoking or the use of tobacco products, including on social media platforms.

As of July 1, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) had 200 active investigations into online advertisements, enforced the blocking of 436 websites, and issued 505 advertising warnings and $1.51 million in fines. Quit director Rachael Andersen said those numbers were "just the tip of the iceberg".

"A lot of this advertising is happening subconsciously, and people may not be aware that it's illegal for tobacco companies to be advertising," Ms Andersen said.

Call for stronger action

Ms Andersen said stronger action on illegal advertising was needed to protect the public from the harms of the tobacco industry. "What we need to see is this federal government exercising its powers under these laws and being able to act on these complaints when they're raised, and compelling social media giants to remove illegal tobacco or vaping ad content from their platforms," she said.

"Social media platforms can't be passive bystanders to this problem. They have got significant influence and reach and therefore responsibility to address this when it's being raised with them."

Ms Andersen said accountability was needed, including from social media giants. "What we've seen is examples of where this advertising has been raised directly with these businesses, and they haven't removed the ads," she said.

"It's brazen illegal activity, it's happening in plain sight and we're seeing too few repercussions for retailers and for these commercial operators."

Normalisation of tobacco consumption

Ms Andersen said illegal tobacco advertisements were playing a role in normalising tobacco consumption. "We know smoking tobacco is incredibly addictive," she said. "It causes 16 types of cancer and addiction is really hard to break, so what we really don't want to be seeing is reinforcing messaging popping up on people's social media platforms."

A Department of Health, Disability and Ageing spokesperson said all alleged breaches of non-compliance were taken seriously. "The Australian government is concerned about any advertising that encourages tobacco and nicotine use," the spokesperson said.

"This is why the government has taken strong action to strengthen legislation, enforcement, education and support to protect Australians from the harms of tobacco and e-cigarettes."

"Material may be assessed on a case‑by‑case basis, including whether it has the effect or likely effect of encouraging or normalising smoking behaviour."