TikTok and Meta platforms host and run hundreds of advertisements promoting illegal tobacco and vaping products, according to reporting cited by multiple outlets. Many of the ads have since been removed, but the coverage describes them as contributing to the growth of an illicit market in Australia.
The outlets link the advertising to broader harms associated with black-market trade, including increased organised crime activity. In the accounts, the illegal supply chain is described as fueling violence, with references to incidents such as firebombings and other criminal activity occurring around the country.
While the articles focus on the same core allegation—that ad campaigns for prohibited products were promoted on major platforms and later taken down—they present it with slightly different emphasis. The overall narrative across the sources centres on the scale of the ads, their subsequent removal, and the downstream effect on illegal sales and public safety.
