Vape influencers decry Instagram's crackdown on vaping ads

“If Instagram doesn’t allow people to promote vape, there will be a lot of people losing their jobs, including me,” an influencer who goes by Valerie Wee, tells me over email. Her account is filled with vape tricks, vaporizer giveaways, and glowing product reviews.

Last week, Instagram said it would be cracking down on sponsored vaping content. “Branded content that promotes goods such as vaping, tobacco products, and weapons will not be allowed,” the company said. “Our advertising policies have long prohibited the advertisement of these products, and we will begin enforcement on this in the coming weeks.”

While Instagram claims it has never allowed promotion of content featuring weapons, tobacco, or vapes, in the past it has primarily policed ads that companies directly promote on its platform. It has been less focused on pulling down ads that only exist on an influencer’s grid or in their stories and live streams. A company spokesman said Instagram’s new effort is part of making the social platform safer overall. She did not say explicitly how Instagram plans to enforce its beefed up policy.

Vaping influencers like Wee, who blows elaborate smoke rings and tests products for her 58,000 followers, feel like vaping and e-cigarettes are being maligned, because of the vaping illness that has sent 2,506 people to the hospital and killed 54. They argue that though the vaping illness is scary, it has not yet been linked to reputable brands. To date, 152 THC-containing vaping brands have been associated with the vaping illness, including Dank Vapes, TKO, Smart Cart, and Rove, according to the CDC (THC is the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana).

The concern among vaping influencers, many of who believe vaping is a safer alternative to smoking, is that without the ability to work with brands, they won’t be able to continue making the case against cigarettes.

“It’s not just influencers that it’s affecting, it’s the entire vape community and anyone that wants to try it to quit smoking with this method,” says Allie Embers, a vaping influencer with nearly 16,000 followers. She added that vaping has enabled her and her father to quit. She acknowledges that inhaling anything into your lungs is not good for you, but asserts that vaping is less harmful than cigarettes and helped her to ween off them.

Source: Fastcompany.com

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