<p>Expenditure on short-form video influencer advertising has increased exponentially. However, little is known regarding the interaction effects between ad relevance and tie strength on intention to avoid influencer advertising. Therefore, this study sheds light on the topic by constructing a moderated serial-mediation model based on dual-systems theory to explore the impacts of ad relevance on ad avoidance intention, as well as the serial mediating role of motive inference and perceived intrusiveness and the moderating role of tie strength. This study employs a two-wave longitudinal survey and the results indicate that a higher ad relevance induces intrinsic motive inference, thus lowering perceived intrusiveness and ad avoidance intention, while tie strength moderates the serial mediating effects. The findings help advance the knowledge on the processes driving user avoidance intention to short-form video influencer advertising and offer suggestions for practitioners to design advertising campaigns.</p>