Social media pages’ age restrictions and warning display
| E-cigarettes % (n) | Hookah % (n) | Cigar % (n) | Smokeless % (n) | Overall % (n) | |
| Had age restriction | |||||
| Instagram* | 12.0 (3/25) | 0.0 (0/11) | 0.0 (0/15) | 0.0 (0/2) | 5.7 (3/53) |
| Facebook* | 16.7 (4/24) | 60.0 (6/10) | 41.7 (5/12) | 50.0 (1/2) | 33.3 (16/48) |
| Twitter† | 0.0 (0/26) | 0.0 (0/10) | 0.0 (0/10) | 0.0 (0/2) | 0.0 (0/48) |
| YouTube* | 3.7 (1/27) | 0.0 (0/6) | 0.0 (0/7) | 0.0 (0/1) | 2.5 (1/40) |
| 0.0 (0/21) | 0.0 (0/4) | 0.0 (0/1) | – | 0.0 (0/26) | |
| Tumblr | 0.0 (0/13) | 0.0 (0/1) | 0.0 (0/3) | – | 0.0 (0/17) |
| Had no age restriction | |||||
| 88.0 (22/25) | 100 (11/11) | 100 (15/15) | 100 (2/2) | 94.3 (50/53) | |
| 83.3 (20/24) | 40.0 (4/10) | 58.3 (7/12) | 50.0 (1/2) | 66.7 (32/48) | |
| 100 (26/26) | 100 (10/10) | 100 (10/10) | 100 (2/2) | 100 (48/48) | |
| YouTube | 96.3 (26/27) | 100 (6/6) | 100 (7/7) | 100 (1/1) | 97.5 (39/40) |
| 100 (21/21) | 100 (4/4) | 100 (1/1) | – | 100 (26/26) | |
| Tumblr | 100 (13/13) | 100 (1/1) | 100 (3/3) | – | 100 (17/17) |
| Had age statements in bio‡ | |||||
| 22.7 (5/22) | 9.1 (1/11) | 40.0 (6/15) | 50.0 (1/2) | 26.0 (13/50) | |
| 8.3 (2/24) | 0.0 (0/4) | 0.0 (0/7) | 0.0 (0/1) | 5.6 (2/36) | |
| 19.2 (5/26) | 0.0 (0.10) | 10.0 (1/10) | 0.0 (0/2) | 12.5 (6/48) | |
| YouTube | 0.0 (0/26) | 0.0 (0/6) | 0.0 (0/7) | 0.0 (0/1) | 0.0 (0/39) |
| 0.0 (0/21) | 0.0 (0/4) | 0.0 (0/1) | – | 0.0 (0/26) | |
| Tumblr | 0.0 (0/13) | 0.0 (0/1) | 0.0 (0/3) | – | 0.0 (0/17) |
| Had age statements in posts‡ | |||||
| 22.7 (5/22) | 0.0 (0/11) | 0.0 (0/15) | 0.0 (0/2) | 10.0 (5/50) | |
| 4.2 (1/24) | 0.0 (0/4) | 0.0 (0/7) | 0.0 (0/1) | 2.8 (1/36) | |
| 11.5 (3/26) | 0.0 (0/10) | 0.0 (0/10) | 0.0 (0/2) | 6.3 (3/48) | |
| YouTube§ | 15.4 (4/26) | 0.0 (0/6) | 14.3 (1/7) | 0.0 (0/1) | 12.8 (5/39) |
| 4.8 (1/21) | 0.0 (0/4) | 0.0 (0/1) | – | 3.8 (1/26) | |
| Tumblr | 0.0 (0/13 | 0.0 (0/1) | 0.0 (0/3 | – | 0.0 (0/17) |
| No age statements | |||||
| 59.1 (13/22) | 90.9 (10/11) | 60.0 (9/15) | 50.0 (1/2) | 66.0 (33/50) | |
| 70.8 (17/24) | 100 (4/4) | 100 (7/7) | 100 (1/1) | 80.6 (29/36) | |
| 73.1 (19/26) | 90.0 (9/10) | 90.0 (9/10) | 100 (2/2) | 81.3 (39/48) | |
| YouTube | 84.6 (22/26) | 100 (6/6) | 85.7 (6/7) | 100 (1/1) | 87.2 (34/39) |
| 95.2 (20/21) | 100 (4/4) | 100 (1/1) | n/a | 96.2 (25/26) | |
| Tumblr | 100 (13/13) | 100 (1/1) | 100 (3/3) | n/a | 100 (17/17) |
| Health warning displayed | |||||
| 44.8 (13/29) | 18.2 (2/11) | 26.7 (4/15) | 66.7 (2/3) | 36.2 (21/58) | |
| 28.6 (8/28) | 30.0 (3/10) | 50.0 (6/12) | 50.0 (1/2) | 34.6 (18/52) | |
| 18.5 (5/27) | 10.0 (1/10) | 50.0 (5/10) | 0.0 (0/2) | 22.4 (11/49) | |
| YouTube | 28.6 (8/28) | 33.3 (2/6) | 28.6 (2/7) | 100 (1/1) | 28.6 (12/42) |
| 9.5 (2/21) | 0.0 (0/4) | 0.0 (0/1) | n/a | 7.7 (2/26) | |
| Tumblr | 0.0 (0/13) | 0.0 (0/1) | 0.0 (0/3) | n/a | 0.0 (0/17) |
Italicised categories represent subcategories of pages that had no age restrictions. Denominators were taken from table 1.
*Requires viewer to be logged in and have an adult birthdate in their profile to see any content.
†Twitter offers age gating to follow certain accounts, but all content can be viewed of accounts regardless of status as a follower, unless the account owner also restricts all posts to be visible only to followers. We did not find that any accounts did this.
‡For example, ‘for adults only’, ‘18+ to follow 21+ to purchase’.
§For some brands, their YouTube channels were not age restricted, but some individual videos posted were.