Instagram To Enforce Ban On Sponsored Content Involving Weapons, Tobacco, Vaping

Instagram is cracking down on sponsored influencer posts that promote vaping, tobacco products, weapons, alcohol, and diet supplements.

In a post on its business blog, the platform noted that it has long had traditional ad policies in place with respect to the aforementioned products, but that enforcement with respect to influencers will begin “in the coming weeks.” (Parent company Facebook and Instagram also banned user posts that served to sell alcohol and tobacco in July). The new announcement about proactive enforcement means that influencer promotion of vaping, tobacco, and weapons will be banned outright, whereas the promotion of alcohol and diet supplements will require “special restrictions” — such as, for instance, a tool that would restrict the viewability of content based on a user’s age.

In its blog post, Instagram also said that it is opening up Facebook’s Brand Collabs Manager product — a marketplace that helps link up advertisers and influencers — to select Instagram creators.

The Manager allows creators to source new deals, manage existing partnerships, and share campaign insights with advertisers partners. With the Brand Collabs Manager, any marketers who are tagged in branded content can automatically access campaign metrics using the tool, as well as via the Instagram app. (As of now, most brands have to rely on screenshots of analytics sent to them by creators to assess the return on their investment).

Such questions about analytics are bound to be of greater concern as Instagram continues to test the removal of ‘likes’ — another metric that advertisers look at it in determining the impact of their sponsorships.

“Creators on Instagram are a vital part of our community, and we will be investing even more resources in 2020 to help them build their businesses on Instagram,” the company said.