Team Members
Chengze Miao, Xinyu Wang, Yamin Zheng, Bruce Zhang, Isabel Liu
Academic Advisor
Professor Ajay Anand
Sponsor
Dr. Zidian Xie
Abstract
In response to rising public concerns over youth vaping and environmental waste, the UK government proposed a ban on disposable e-cigarettes, set to take effect on June 1, 2025.
This project explores public perception and response to the ban using Twitter/X data, focusing on user attitudes in UK and the US, and behavioral reactions specifically among UK vapers. Over 2.4 million tweets (June 2023–October 2024) were analyzed using a human-guided NLP pipeline combining RoBERTa, ChatGPT, and BERTopic for sentiment classification, theme identification, and behavior detection.
Attitude and sentiment analysis revealed that vapers showed strong pro-ban sentiment and significantly higher engagement than non-vapers, who remained mostly neutral. Sentiment trends across both countries surged in response to major policy announcements rather than enforcement actions. While UK discourse emphasized institutional trust and emotional appeals, US discussions were more analytical, often highlighting health outcomes.
Behavioral analysis, focused solely on UK users, using a mixed-method approach combining keyword filtering and qualitative interpretation, revealed that most vapers intended to switch to alternatives such as refillable devices, while others mentioned returning to cigarettes, quitting, stockpiling, or turning to the black market. These findings underscore the need for proactive harm reduction strategies, timely public communication, and the use of real-time social media insights to guide effective policy implementation.
