AI bots flooded a government consultation with tens of thousands of fake responses in a failed attempt to stop the UK’s ban on disposable vapes.
asserted
bots → flood → vapes
Three-quarters of all the responses to the 2023 consultation on the tobacco and vapes bill were machine-generated, in what is thought to be the first coordinated attempt to use AI to derail health policymaking in the UK.
asserted
what → generate → UK
The attempt to manipulate the outcome of the consultation was disclosed on Tuesday in research published in the journal Tobacco Control by the health policy experts Dr Nason Maani, from the University of Edinburgh, and Prof Anna Gilmore, of the University of Bath.
asserted
attempt → manipulate → Bath
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) used bot-detection methods to identify that 90,835 of the 118,756 responses it received, 76%, were submitted by bots.
asserted
it → use → bots
All but two of those 90,835 automated responses answered the same question in the “smoke free generation” consultation, in which they opposed Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government’s plan to ban disposable vapes.
asserted
they → automate → vapes
The submissions were “often duplicated many times and sent at high frequency from a small number of IP addresses”, the DHSC said.
asserted
DHSC → duplicate → addresses
The bombardment “appears to be the first documented instance of large-scale automated interference in a formal public health policy consultation”, the researchers said.
asserted
researchers → appear → consultation
Maani added that while this attempt was identified, “the threat is that future campaigns become harder to catch, and what we can’t catch, we don’t know about.
asserted
we → add → what
Such campaigns are a threat because they raise the possibility of a handful of powerful interests looking like a mass movement.”
asserted
handful → raise → movement
The DHSC excluded the 90,835 automated responses from its decision-making.
asserted
DHSC → exclude → making
Keir Starmer’s Labour government inherited the tobacco and vapes bill in 2024 and passed it into law, including the ban on businesses selling or supplying disposable vapes.
asserted
government → inherit → vapes
Caroline Cerny, the deputy chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, said: “Evidence that AI bots have been used to swamp a Department of Health consultation is deeply concerning.
“Given the tobacco industry’s history of seeking to undermine public health regulation, we need to be alert to the risk that technological advances can be used to further commercial interests around health policy and put safeguards in place.
asserted
advances → say → place
“Decisions that affect public health must be based on sound evidence and expertise, not manipulated response numbers.”
asserted
that → affect → evidence
Azzurra Moores, the associate director for information ecosystems at the thinktank Demos, described the attempt to derail the ban as “pretty alarming”.
asserted
Moores → describe → ban
“Public consultations are one of the main ways government opens up its decision-making, so any interference with them is a serious concern,” she said.
asserted
she → open → them
“These findings are pretty alarming: if a consultation can be swamped like this, it stops telling policymakers what the public actually thinks and undermines trust in the process.
asserted
public → swamp → process
Every barrier that keeps bots out also makes it harder for real people to take part, and AI makes fake responses far harder to spot.
asserted
responses → keep → part
Interference can adapt faster than departments can update their checks.
asserted
departments → adapt → checks
Better screening and more transparency will help, but there’s no single fix.”
asserted
screening → help → ?
The DHSC said its “robust controls” identified the attempt to influence the consultation.
asserted
controls → say → consultation
A spokesperson said: “We always have robust controls in place to prevent the manipulation of our public consultations, and those controls worked effectively in this case.
asserted
controls → say → case
“As a result, the fake responses were removed, and the consultation helped inform the landmark action we are taking to create a smoke-free generation.
asserted
we → remove → generation
“We will remain alert to interference of this kind in future consultation processes, and we will not be deterred from doing what is necessary to promote healthier living.”
asserted
what → remain → living
The Aporia
