Characterizing the tobacco and nicotine information environment for information seekers on YouTube

This research aims to characterize the English language tobacco and nicotine information environment on YouTube by examining the content to which those who actively seek tobacco and nicotine content are exposed.

We used Google Trends, YouTube's Application Programming Interface (API), and a custom python script to sample the most common videos populated by the most common search terms, and the most common videos populated by YouTube's recommendation feed. After categorizing search terms as "Health Information Seeking" (HIS), "Pro-tobacco/Nicotine" (PtN), or Ambiguous, a content analysis of N = 606 relevant videos identified pro-versus anti-tobacco videos by tobacco manufacturer, broadcast media, health institution, and organic sources. Analyses describe how often each kind of search leads to each kind of source and to pro-tobacco videos in both the primary search results and the recommended videos.

In sum 394(65%) videos were pro-tobacco including 83% of PtN and 60% of ambiguous searches. However, just 5 of 118 videos returned by HIS searches or recommendations were pro-tobacco. Tobacco manufacturer videos were primarily found in PtN searches, though two were recommended in ambiguous searches. The most common primary search results for HIS were health institutions comprising 39% of combined primary (45%) and recommended (36%) videos.

Although possible, tobacco and nicotine related HIS on YouTube is unlikely to drive exposure to pro-tobacco content and relatively likely to lead to reputable sources such as health institutions. Conversely, ambiguous or non-specific searches (e.g. vape, nic pouch) both lead to a pro-tobacco information environment. Potential individual and platform-level interventions are discussed.