Public Response to Federal Electronic Cigarette Regulations Analyzed Using Social Media Data Through Natural Language...

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Social Media Analysis
• Regulatory Policy

Background:

• Electronic cigarette use is a significant public health concern in the U.S.
• The FDA issued marketing denial orders (MDOs) for Juul products on June 23, 2022.
• A federal appeals court temporarily halted the ban, allowing Juul products to remain on the market.

Purpose of the Study:

• Analyze public sentiment on social media regarding the FDA's Juul ban.
• Understand the life cycle of public health policy discussions on social media.
• Examine pre- and post-ban public perceptions of Juul.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Natural Language Processing (NLP) including BERTopic modeling and sentiment analysis.
• Collected and analyzed 6023 tweets and 22,288 replies/retweets from June to October 2022.
• Performed time-trend analysis and content analysis of retweets to assess public discourse.

Main Results:

• Twitter attention regarding the FDA's Juul ban lasted less than a week.
• Discussions, including health concerns, rapidly declined after the announcement.
• Public response to the ban was predominantly negative (42%), with neutral sentiment at 51%.

Conclusions:

• The news cycle and public engagement with the FDA's Juul ban exhibited a short life cycle.
• A significant portion of the public expressed negative sentiment towards the ban.
• Policymakers should consider sustained communication strategies and social media engagement to maintain public health policy conversations.