Facebook vape ads exposed

Lobbyists allowed to push petitions against bans

Facebook is controversially allowing lobbyists to push petitions calling for vaping bans to be scrapped, without disclosing the post’s sponsor.

The advertisements, which appear to be in breach of Meta’s own guidelines, can be revealed after the social media giant was forced to shut down pages openly and illegally advertising vapes for sale.

It comes as a two-day Senate inquiry began on Wednesday looking at a new law that would require vapes to be sold in pharmaceutical packaging, reduce the amount of nicotine they contain, and ban single use vapes and non therapeutic vapes.

Our investigation found dozens of Australian Facebook sites selling vapes with some trying to disguise themselves as grocery stores, “health/beauty” or “music/band” sites.

One site was offering three vapes for $100 and a single vape for $35 that it says are “available now” others listed the addresses of shops selling the products in towns and cities all over Australia.

Research conducted by University of Queensland’s National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research (NCYSUR) that is under peer review found Facebook listings “often provide seller contacts, bulk-buy discounts, and doorto-door delivery options, all without any age restrictions on accessibility”.

This is even though Meta’s transparency policy says:

“Ads must not promote delivery devices, such as electronic cigarettes, vaporisers or any other products that simulate smoking or are otherwise designed for use with tobacco or nicotine products.”

After we brought the pages to Meta’s attention, it confirmed it had “removed the Facebook Profiles as they violated our Community Standards”.

“We strongly encourage people to report items that may breach our rules so we can review and take the appropriate action,” a spokesperson said.

On other Facebook sites political ads promoting the signing of a petition to overturn tough new vaping rules do not clearly disclose the sponsor.

Meta’s transparency policy states: “Advertisers must include a verified “Paid for by” disclaimer on these ads to show the entity or person responsible for running the ad across Meta technologies.”

Responsible Vaping Australia established by tobacco giant British American Tobacco (BAT) runs a Facebook page promoting a petition that opposes the Federal Government’s new vaping ban.

The petition says “Vaping should be regulated like alcohol and tobacco through a licensed retail network who only sell to people 18+”.

But nowhere does it mention that the group is financed by BAT nor does it carry political authorisation and it has not been taken down by Meta.