A study published in Tobacco Control found that 90,835 of the 118,756 responses to the UK government’s 2023 consultation on tobacco and vaping legislation were identified by the Department of Health and Social Care as fraudulent. Nearly all the bot-generated submissions opposed proposed restrictions on disposable vape sales. After the responses were excluded, 79.6% of valid respondents supported the restrictions, according to researchers from the University of Edinburgh and the University of Bath.
The researchers said the volume and consistency of the submissions suggested a coordinated campaign, but they could not establish who organized it or what its precise objective was. They described the findings as the first documented instance of large-scale automated interference in a formal UK public health policy consultation. Action on Smoking and Health Deputy Chief Executive Caroline Cerny called for safeguards against the use of technology to manipulate public consultations.
