JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Three major U.S. tobacco companies were recently ordered to publish corrective statements intended to prevent and restrain further fraud about the health effects of smoking. The court-ordered statements began appearing in newspapers and on television in late 2017.

Objective:

The objective of this study is to examine the social media dissemination of the tobacco corrective statements during the first six months of the implementation of the statements.

Methods:

We conducted a descriptive content analysis of Twitter posts using an iterative search strategy through Crimson Hexagon and randomly selected twenty percent (n=456) of original posts occurring between November 1, 2017 and March 31, 2018 for coding and analysis. We assessed post volume over time, source/author, valence, linked content, and reference to the industry (e.g. “big tobacco,” “tobacco industry,” “Philip Morris”) and media outlet (TV or newspaper). Retweeted content was coded for source/author and frequency.

Results:

Most posts were published in November 2017, surrounding the initial release of the corrective statements. Content was generally neutral (59%) or positive (33%) in valence, included links to additional information about the statements (95%), referred to the industry (88%), and did not mention a specific media channel on which the statements were aired or published (15%). The majority of original posts were created by individual users (55%), while the majority of retweeted posts were posted by public health organizations (51%).

Conclusions:

Conversations about the court-ordered corrective statements are taking place on Twitter and are generally neutral or positive in nature. Public health organizations may be increasing the frequency of these conversations through social media engagement.