The Metaverse Unfiltered

Virtual environments-known as metaverses-are fast becoming the new battleground for tobacco and nicotine marketing. A recent Guardian article highlighted a troubling trend: cigarettes and vapes are being promoted within metaverse platforms, often with a clear focus on younger audiences. Digital avatars smoking at virtual parties, branded virtual items, and subtle product placements have become increasingly common. Tobacco marketers are using these immersive environments to bypass traditional advertising laws-hiding behind virtual bars, sponsoring online games, and even launching NFT collections with cigarette branding.

In this “grey zone” with little oversight, companies are free to build brand loyalty among youth without fear of legal consequences.

This trend isn’t just speculation. At the 2025 World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Dublin, the global health organization Vital Strategies shared findings from its Canary monitoring project, providing real-life examples of how tobacco companies are targeting digital platforms. According to experts, the industry is no longer waiting for regulations to catch up-it’s actively avoiding them by shifting to spaces like the metaverse.

With the help of NFTs and immersive virtual events, companies are attracting young users-sometimes even children-into a new, “cool” culture centered around nicotine use.

Real-World Examples from Virtual Spaces

• ⁠ ⁠In Indonesia, a social media account linked to cigarette giant Djarum shared a post showing avatars relaxing in a virtual café, cigarettes in hand and branded packs visible on the table. The caption encouraged introverts to “hang out in the metaverse,” presenting smoking as part of social fun and freedom.
• ⁠ ⁠In India, a game backed by tobacco company DS Group promotes its products through indirect cues-like logos and familiar candy branding-blurring the line between entertainment and advertising. These “advergames” skirt direct promotion but still reinforce brand recognition, especially among young players.
• ⁠ ⁠The children’s gaming platform Roblox has already seen its share of issues. A Sky News investigation uncovered illegal virtual casinos targeting users as young as 12. While not directly related to tobacco, the case highlights how major platforms with young audiences are vulnerable to unethical marketing tactics.
• ⁠ ⁠Fortnite, with over 110 million monthly users, is another potential channel for tobacco messaging. Although no direct tobacco involvement has been reported yet, experts caution that platforms with massive youth audiences could easily become hosts for stealth marketing.

Why are public health experts so alarmed? It’s all about the numbers. According to Influencer Marketing Hub, metaverses attract over 400 million users each month, and more than half are under the age of 13. That means children and teens are at the heart of this digital universe-and they are especially vulnerable to subtle influence.

Kazakhstan’s youth is no exception. By 2021, 3.5 million Kazakhs were already actively engaged in video games, with projections showing this number reaching 5 million in the near future. Games like CS:GO, PUBG, and Dota 2 are popular among older players, while younger kids increasingly flock to Roblox and Fortnite. According to a Kaspersky report, 26% of Kazakh children’s online activity is gaming-related-more than their peers in the UK.

In other words, hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of young Kazakhs are immersed in global metaverses. Many are under 14 or 15 years old. For tobacco companies, this is a prime opportunity to shape a “new generation of smokers.”

While many countries have strict bans on tobacco advertising in TV, print, and online media, these laws haven’t yet reached virtual worlds. In Kazakhstan, advertising tobacco, heated tobacco products, chewing tobacco, and vapes is completely banned. In 2024, the sale and production of vapes were criminalized. These are tough policies-on paper.

But they all focus on traditional formats: physical shops, TV, websites, and social media. The metaverse, by contrast, is a hybrid of games, social networks, and virtual reality that doesn’t fit neatly into any legal category. What counts as an ad in Roblox or Fortnite? There are no billboards-but there are branded events, sponsor logos, and influencer avatars “smoking” on screen. Is that advertising, or just virtual roleplay?

The law doesn’t yet have an answer. So while no laws may technically be broken, the reality is that smoking is being normalized and glamorized-especially for younger users. As more teens live their lives online, where traditional ad filters don’t exist, the problem will only get worse.

Tobacco companies love to talk about their commitment to ethics and “responsible marketing.” But their actions in the metaverse tell a different story.

UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and ESG frameworks, all require companies to avoid harming vulnerable groups-especially children. OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises say that businesses should uphold fair marketing practices, respect consumer interests, and protect public health and safety, both offline and online.

Yet in exploiting the unregulated nature of virtual platforms, tobacco companies are lowering the bar, evading oversight, and violating the spirit-if not the letter-of these international norms. They’re also ignoring health treaties like the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which calls for a total ban on tobacco advertising.

Kazakhstan has made great strides in offline tobacco control. But the digital space is a new battleground, and failure to act now could erase those hard-won gains. Kazakh youth are already part of the global internet culture. If smoking becomes fashionable in the virtual world, it will spill over into real-life behaviors. To prevent this:

1.⁠ ⁠Start Digital Monitoring

Kazakhstan should systematically track tobacco-related content in its digital space-including games, virtual platforms, and the metaverse. This can be done in partnership with global initiatives like Canary, TERM, and others that specialize in detecting covert digital marketing.

2.⁠ ⁠Update the Legal Framework

Kazakhstan’s 2023 Law on Online Platforms defined online advertising and created basic rules for digital content. But it focused mostly on social media and messaging apps. Gaming platforms and virtual worlds remain largely outside its scope. The law should be expanded to cover all forms of digital content, regardless of platform.

3.⁠ ⁠Use International Leverage

Kazakhstan can also pressure tobacco companies via OECD mechanisms. It can file complaints with National Contact Points in countries where these companies are headquartered, pointing to violations of ethical standards. While this won’t bring legal penalties, it can hurt companies reputationally, especially those trying to look good on ESG rankings.

Just a few years ago, the metaverse felt like science fiction. Today, we already have avatars smoking at virtual parties. The cigarettes may be digital-but the consequences are real. If we want to protect the next generation from nicotine addiction, we must act now-and make sure the virtual world doesn’t become a loophole for harmful industries.