Examining Tobacco-Related Social Media Research in Government Policy Documents: Systematic Review

Social media data have been used to describe tobacco industry marketing practices, user experiences with tobacco, and youth-oriented protobacco content.

Examine the extent to which tobacco-related social media research is cited in government policy documents.

Peer-reviewed tobacco-related social media studies were searched for on Web of Science, PubMed, and other databases from 2004 to 2022. The DOI number for each identified article was then used to search the Overton database to find policy documents citing such research. A secondary, manual search of national and international governmental agency websites was also conducted.

Documents were included in this study if they were tobacco-related, written in English, cited social media research in the document text and reference section, and were published by a governmental office or agency.

The analytic sample consisted of (n = 38) government policy documents, and were coded for content themes, agency type, document type, and subsequent citations.

When this research was utilized, it was often in the context of highlighting tobacco industry marketing practices, bringing attention to an issue (eg, youth e-cigarette use), and/or describing how social media platforms can be used as a data source to understand tobacco-related attitudes and behaviors. Agencies that often cited this research were the WHO, FDA, and CDC. The document types included research reports, policy recommendations, industry guidance, legal complaints, and practice-based recommendations.

Tobacco-related social media research has been utilized by government agencies in the last decade to guide the policy process.

Tobacco-related social media research has been used in government policy documents to detail tobacco industry marketing and bring attention to youth exposure to protobacco content online. Continued surveillance of social media may be necessary to track the changing tobacco landscape.