Big Tobacco’s hashtag hijacking: a network analysis approach to social media hashtag use among FDA-registered vaping establishments

Purpose Hashtag hijacking is a process wherein a hashtag’s intended purpose is “hijacked” or redirected to index a different content type on social media. Guided by theories of framing and social influence, the purpose of this paper is to conceptualize hashtag hijacking as a networked event on social media platforms by exploring the use patterns of various hashtags by tobacco retailers. Design/methodology/approach Twitter and Instagram data were collected over three months. Utilizing network analysis, the research team coded hashtags to create an attribute co-occurrence network. An exponential random graph model (ERGM) was fit to the data to explore whether hashtag-level attributes predicted co-occurrence. Findings Findings show that health promotion hashtags were used in conjunction with vape, flavor and other pro-nicotine hashtags more frequently than random chance would expect. This study provides preliminary support for the claim that tobacco retailers intentionally hijack health promotion hashtags to drive social media engagement. Originality/value The network approach to the phenomenon of hashtag hijacking is one of the first to account for the non-independence of social media data. This study provides a framework for future online media scholars to explore the way hijacking can influence digital spaces. Implications for nicotine and tobacco regulators are discussed. Peer review The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-07-2024-0473.