• Posted June 2, 2026

TikTok Videos Fuel Illicit Vaping Culture Among Underage Youth

#illegalvape. #discreetvapeshipping. #discreetpackaging. #noIDvape. #hiddennic.

With these sorts of hashtags, TikTok videos are fostering a culture that promotes illicit vaping among underage youngsters, a new study says.

For the study, researchers used eight illicit vaping-related hashtags to identify and analyze dozens of TikTok videos. Their findings were published May 31 in the journal Addiction.

“These TikTok videos attract significant attention and can feed into an emerging illicit vape subculture, where young people exchange tips, experiences and ways to bypass age restrictions,” senior researcher Emma Ward said in a news release. Ward is a research fellow at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in the U.K.

About 57% of videos depicted “apathy towards law,” reflecting indifference or disregard for laws that prohibit vaping among young people.

“One such video depicted two young people celebrating a successful underage vape purchase, while another displayed two individuals expressing joy at acquiring a 5% nicotine vape in Europe, where such strength is prohibited,” researchers wrote in their paper.

Likewise, 76% of the videos promoted themes of concealment and accessibility, touting how easy it is for underage kids to buy vapes and then use them discreetly, researchers said.

“Specifically, 48% of the TikTok videos had content relating to both the ease of access and the underage sales/purchasing of vapes. Together, these garnered a collective like count of over 9 million,” they wrote.

“In addition, 40% of videos included vape concealment and evasion strategies and were liked almost 2 million times,” the team added.

Some sellers also actively glamorized illicit vapes by marketing them as part of “puff bundles” that also included cosmetics or baked treats. This tactic is designed to evade age verification, researchers said.

For the new study, researchers conducted a systematic analysis of Google and TikTok, searching for video content on vaping.

“By analyzing both Google search results and TikTok content, we were able to compare formal health messaging with the informal content young people are most likely to consume day‑to‑day,” said lead investigator Eleanor Bray, a research associate at the UEA.

“What stood out was how inconsistently illicit vaping is addressed across platforms,” Bray said in a news release. “On TikTok, illegal products were sometimes actively glamorized, with vendors marketing devices through ‘bundle’ deals designed to evade age verification.”

Ward is concerned that youngsters might find these videos more appealing than the accurate-but-dry information about vaping offered on health and education websites.

“When accurate information is hard to find or feels unappealing, young people may turn instead to content that is more engaging but also more misleading, particularly on fast-growing video platforms like TikTok,” she said.

Public health organizations might consider a similar approach, posting flashy and interesting content on TikTok that would better appeal to young people, Bray said.

“Public health messaging is more likely to be effective when it works with young people and the platforms they already use,” she noted. “To protect young audiences, we need online information that is not only accurate, but also accessible, engaging and relevant to their everyday lives.”

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about e-cigarette use among young people.

SOURCES: University of East Anglia, news release, May 31, 2026; Addiction, May 31, 2026