United Kingdom: 76% of the responses to the consultation on the ban on disposable vaping machines came from AI robots

Of 118,756 contributions received in 2023, 90,835 were automated and almost all opposed to the ban: a first documented attempt to distort a public health consultation.

A study published in the journal Tobacco Control by Nason Maani (University of Edinburgh) and Anna Gilmore (University of Bath) revealed the extent of past unnoticed manipulation by the general public: in the 2023 consultation on the British Tobacco and Electronic Cigarette Bill, the Ministry of Health (DHSC) identified 90,835 responses generated by robots out of a total of 118,756, or 76%.

Almost all related to the same issue and opposed the Sunak government's ban on disposable vamps. Sent in gusts and often duplicated, they came from a small number of IP addresses, allowing the department to locate and remove them. The law was finally passed under the Starmer government, including a ban.

A risk to participatory democracy

For the authors, this is the first documented case of large-scale automated interference in a public health consultation. They fear that future campaigns, better designed, will become undetectable and allow a few powerful interests to pretend to be a mass movement. The think tank Demos highlights the dilemma: every barrier against robots also complicates the participation of real citizens.