Background:
In the European Union, advertising for tobacco products and e-cigarettes is banned on TV, radio, print and Internet. Some social media platforms have voluntary self-regulation for products that are harmful to health, such as tobacco.

Objectives:
To our knowledge, no data on the extent, forms and content of advertising for e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products (HTPs) in German social media is currently available. The goal of this project is to detect whether there is advertising for e-cigarettes and HTPs in German social media and to describe how it is designed.

Methods:
Social media such as Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest und Tiktok is being monitored by using an automated social media analytical tool. Search strategies for e-cigarettes and HTPs were established. Results were restricted to German language and categorized.

Results:
From February to March 2023, we found 1.159 relevant posts for e-cigarettes. 79 % were on Instagram, 13 % on Facebook and 6 % on Pinterest. More than 600 posts were on e-cigarettes, over 100 posts on liquids. More than 100 brands were being advertised. Most advertising was posted by commercial accounts (996 posts), 114 posts were from influencers. From February to April 2023, we found 241 relevant posts for HTPs, mostly on Instagram (55 %), Facebook (36 %) and Pinterest (8 %). Most advertising was posted by commercial accounts (220 posts), 11 posts were from influencers. In general, the heaters were shown without tobacco sticks. Advertising portrayed themes like lifestyle and partnership.

Conclusions:
Despite being banned, there is advertising for e-cigarettes and HTPs in social media. A large part of the advertising is made by producers and retailers. The data can serve as a basis for strengthening the implementation of existing policies to effectively protect adolescents from advertising for e-cigarettes and HTPs.