Instagram Bans Promotions of Vaping, Tobacco, Alcohol and Diet Supplements
Instagram's advertising policies are not allowing creators and influencers to promote goods such as vaping, tobacco products and weapons.
Facebook's company said that its advertising policies have long prohibited the advertisement of these products, but now the company will begin enforcement on this in the coming weeks.
Instagram said that branded content that promotes goods such as alcohol or diet supplements will require special restrictions. These policies will go into effect next year. Instagram is currently building specific tools to help creators comply with these new policies, including the ability to restrict who can see their content, based on age.
The photo app has long allowed people with thousands or even millions of followers to operate their own sponsored content operations, outside the Facebook ad-buying system, without the level of oversight applied to the rest of the company’s advertising.
However, there’s been a surge of sponsored content promoted by influencers, so Instagram wants to “establish clear rules to help protect our community,” at least with vaping, weapons and tobacco, according to a spokeswoman.