‘Pervasive’: Academics call for ban on harmful online advertising over fears for public health

Monday, 6 October 2025

Research has found young people are being exposed to harmful online marketing and content.

Academics are urging the Government to ban advertising of harmful products on social media, after revealing findings show that young Kiwis are being exposed to harm.

Research by a group of academics in New Zealand found pervasive online marketing of products such as tobacco, alcohol, vaping and gambling is making its way onto young people’s phones, including those under 18.

It also found children are being exposed to harmful content such as body shaming, self-harm, hate speech and alt-right content.

Almost all of the young people in the survey are online several times a day - some using social media for more than five hours each day.

“The sheer pervasiveness of this digital marketing … we didn’t expect it to be quite so much and it’s reaching people who are 14, 15, 16,” co-author and population health professor Antonia Lyons said.

“The entire system is a commercialised environment … nobody’s thinking about social good or public health.”

The study, carried out in 2022, included surveys and in-depth interviews with more than 3600 young people aged 14 to 20 across New Zealand.

Nearly all respondents (97%) were online several times a day, often using five or more platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat and TikTok. Nearly 60% reported using social media for more than five hours a day.

Lyons said young people found positives in social media, but were also taken aback by the huge amount of harmful advertisements they received.

Population health professor Antonia Lyons, who co-authored the research, says harmful online advertising needs to be banned in order to keep it away from youth.

More than 70% of respondents said they saw alcohol marketing on their social media platforms, with 43% of those aged 14 to 17 also being exposed.

At least a third said they were exposed to vape marketing, with exposure “significantly more likely” among those aged 14 to 17. Māori and Pasifika youth were also more likely to be targeted, the research found.

John, a 17-year-old Māori participant, said he got “a lot” of beer adverts on his Instagram feed, as well as vaping and tobacco advertising. It was “inescapable”, he said.

One young person called the advertising “deceptive” and “manipulative”, while another said they were bombarded with more advertising, like alcohol adverts, at the weekend or at night.

Several, including some under 18, noted receiving an immense amount of gambling advertising.

Young Kiwis, including those who are under-age, say they are being exposed to harmful advertising such as gambling.

Young people also reported being readily shown harmful and unwanted content in their personalised feeds, including body shaming, self harm, alt-right, and hate speech content.

“TikTok was awful as you couldn’t filter out content that is harmful that would show people cutting themselves or starving themselves,” one 19-year-old said.

A 20-year-old said she was exposed to “really bad stuff”, including content pushing that “you need to be skinnier”.

Participants shared several instances of being cyberbullied, accounts being hacked and attempted blackmail.

Parliament’s Education and Workforce select committee is in the midst of an inquiry into the harm young New Zealanders encounter online. Public submissions closed on July 30. After further hearings, it will report its findings to the House of Representatives.

The group of academics will present their research findings and recommendations to the select committee on Monday afternoon.

The research makes two key recommendations. The first is to ban advertisers from all “paid for” online marketing of harmful commodities such as tobacco, vaping, unhealthy food and gambling on social media platforms.

The second urges the Government to make social media platforms more liable for online harm.

Lyons said that if New Zealand were to get rid of harmful commodity marketing – like other countries such as the United Kingdom have done with things like junk food – social media would become a much safer space.

“They’re for-profit companies… Unless we do something to legislate, their primary goal is to make money and it doesn’t seem to matter how harmful it is for users.”