New Zealand’s largest vape retailer faces an active Ministry of Health investigation over allegations it used an overseas website and social media channels to bypass strict domestic advertising bans.
Regulations introduced in June 2025 prohibited retailers from displaying pictures of vaping products on local websites and social media platforms. One week before the rules took effect, Shosha emailed its mailing list to announce that its local .co.nz domain would remove product imagery, directing customers instead to a newly established .com global website hosted at a US address.
Associate Health Minister Casey Costello referred the global site to the Ministry of Health at the time. Officials initially said that shosha.com was registered in the United States and did not deliver regulated products domestically.
Instagram functions as a domestic workaround in New Zealand
Researchers at the University of Auckland School of Population Health conducted a deeper analysis of the global platform and discovered it operated primarily as a domestic workaround. Lucy Hardie, a researcher on the project, pointed out that the site featured a product availability tool listing only New Zealand stores.
“One of the first things was, there was a product availability tool, so you can check in store whether your favourite product is available in your nearest store, but none of the stores listed are outside of New Zealand,” Hardie said.
Test purchases placed on the global site arrived at local addresses within three days, with postage documentation showing the items dispatched directly from Auckland. Researchers analyzed 67 posts on the associated Instagram account, shosha.global, published between June 2025 and May 2026. The posts displayed vaping products alongside bilingual te reo Māori warning labels, references to Matariki, and domestic nicotine concentration restrictions.
“All of those things sort of put together indicate that these tools are being used as a workaround for this company to continue promoting their products in full view, but sit outside of the law,” Hardie said.
Overseas registration creates hurdles for Ministry of Health enforcement
The Ministry of Health reported issuing 71 infringement notices for website advertising breaches between June 2025 and July 2026. Officials said that while local law applies to accessible websites, investigations face practical and jurisdictional hurdles when targeting companies registered overseas.
Hardie argued that the situation demonstrated weaknesses in current legislation. She said that authorities were aware of the workaround for well over a year without taking decisive enforcement action.
“We knew that [the Ministry of Health] were already aware of this situation well over a year ago and nothing has happened. So it just seems to me that if one of our most prominent vape companies can operate then what’s stopping every other company from operating in this way,” Hardie said.
The shosha.global Instagram account was taken down on November 6, just two days after the researchers released their findings. A Ministry of Health spokesperson said officials were reviewing whether their position on the shosha.com website has changed, adding that the ministry had no prior knowledge of the Instagram account. Shosha did not respond to requests for comment from RNZ.
Common Questions About the Shosha Investigation
Why did Shosha launch an international domain?
Shosha directed customers to a .com domain registered in the United States after domestic regulations banned the display of product images on local .co.nz websites starting in June 2025.
What evidence links the global site to New Zealand?
Researchers conducted test purchases that arrived within three days from an Auckland dispatcher, and found a store locator tool listing exclusively domestic locations.
How many advertising infringements has the Ministry issued?
The Ministry of Health issued 71 infringement notices for website advertising breaches between June 2025 and July 2026.
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