Shopify to ban all vapes after pressure from state attorneys general

Shopify is set to ban all vapes from its platform as soon as this week, a sharp enforcement turn driven by a bipartisan coalition of 25 state attorneys general. The move reaches beyond individual storefronts and into the infrastructure that helps millions of merchants run e-commerce operations, a sign that state officials are now forcing a major platform to police a market they say has long evaded control.

The ban would apply to all vapes in the United States, including products that have Food and Drug Administration authorization. It was not immediately clear whether the policy would extend outside the United States. For sellers, that means a blunt cutoff rather than a case-by-case review, and for rival e-commerce operators it raises a new question: whether pressure that worked on Shopify becomes the template for other platforms handling controlled goods.

State officials have been pressing Shopify since last year to take tougher action against the online sale of illegal e-cigarettes. In November 2025, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the City of New York led a bipartisan letter urging the company to identify and stop merchants selling illegal tobacco products, especially e-cigarettes. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes also pushed publicly for stricter action, with Mayes calling the sales "blatant law-breaking" and dangerous to young people and teens.

The market at issue is large and sprawling. Unlicensed vapes are usually made in China and are widely available not only online but also in vape shops, convenience stores and gas stations. British American Tobacco has put the U.S. vape market at about $9 billion, a size that explains why illicit products have been able to move quickly through digital channels and into physical retail. If Shopify removes access to vape sellers, some of that trade may shift elsewhere online, but the platform’s reach means the disruption could be immediate and costly for merchants built on its systems.

Public-health officials argue the stakes are high. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says e-cigarettes are the most commonly used tobacco product among U.S. youth. CDC and FDA survey data showed 1.63 million middle and high school students used e-cigarettes in 2024, down from 2.13 million in 2023, yet still a large enough cohort to keep regulators focused on distribution channels. The FDA says its authorized-e-cigarettes page is the official, up-to-date list of products that may be legally sold, and it has granted marketing authorization to just 45 e-cigarette products, most of them tobacco-flavored.

For the attorneys general, Shopify’s retreat would be more than a policy change. It would be a rare win against an online market that has proved resilient, and a reminder that in e-commerce, platform rules can be as consequential as state and federal law.