Adolescents' and Young Adults' Perceptions of a Pop-Up Aimed at Combating the Spread of E-Cigarette Misinformation on Social Media: Cross-Sectional Survey Study

Abstract

Background: Social media is an important source of e-cigarette–related information for adolescents and young adults. However, misinformation is being shared across platforms, which may encourage e-cigarette use. Objective: This study aims to examine adolescent and young adult perceptions of a novel pop-up on social media that provides links to vaping–related health information from credible sources (eg, CDC). Methods: Between December 2023 and March 2024, participants aged 13‐24 years (N=5326) completed a web-based cross-sectional survey. Participants were asked to select from 4 positive (eg, useful to share, helpful to check health-related information) and 4 negative or neutral sentiments (eg, usually ignore such notifications, would not trust it) to reflect their perceptions about a mock pop-up that provided a link to e-cigarette–related information on social media. Results: More participants endorsed positive sentiments than negative or neutral sentiments in relation to the pop-up. Specifically, 1078 (20.8%) endorsed two or more positive sentiments, and 690 (13.3%) endorsed two or more negative or neutral sentiments when searching for “vaping” on social media; similarly 913 (17.6%) participants endorsed two or more positive sentiments and 690 (13.3%) endorsed two or more negative or neutral sentiments when viewing e-cigarette–related posts in their feed (all P