Australian kids' crippling vaping addiction laid bare - and the insidious ways ... trends now
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Experts have sounded the alarm over a rise in TikTok videos coercing young kids to take up smoking and vaping, leading doctors to call for an outright ban on the online sale of e-cigarettes in Australia.
An inquiry into Australia's new vaping and smoking laws heard chilling evidence from peak medical groups on Wednesday.
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) said more young people than ever were being 'actively and aggressively' targeted by e-cigarette sellers online through platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook.
'Digital platforms such as TikTok have seen a rise in videos promoting e-cigarettes, with 63 per cent of the total e-cigarette videos depicting the product positively and a total of more than 1.1 billion views,' their submission read.
Experts are calling for an outright ban on the online sale of e-cigarettes in Australia following a rise in TikTok videos coercing young kids to take up vaping (stock image)
Inquiry found Digital platforms such as TikTok have seen a rise in videos promoting e-cigarettes. In Australia in 2022, more than half of TikTok's users were under 24 years of age
Under TikTok's community guidelines policy, users are prohibited from posting, streaming or sharing any content that 'offers the purchase, sale, trade, or solicitation of drugs or other controlled substances, alcohol or tobacco products'.
AMA NSW president Michael Bonning said poor content regulation from digital platform owners
