By Jennifer Maloney 

E-cigarette startup Juul Labs Inc. said it is shutting down its Facebook and Instagram accounts and curbing its use of other social media in the U.S., part of the company's response to the Food and Drug Administration's call for changes to curb underage e-cigarette use.

Sales of Juul's vaporizers and flavored nicotine liquids have surged over the past year, fueled in part by the product's popularity among teenagers and children. Its rapid growth was helped by the San Francisco company's use of social media to advertise its products as well as user-generated posts that glamorized Juul.

"There is no question that this user-generated social media content is linked to the appeal of vaping to underage users," Juul Labs CEO Kevin Burns wrote in a blog post Tuesday.

Write to Jennifer Maloney at jennifer.maloney@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 13, 2018 14:18 ET (19:18 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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