PoliticsAI bots flooded UK consultation on disposable vape ban in failed bid to block law

Researchers found that bots generated 90,835 of the 118,756 responses to the UK’s 2023 tobacco and vapes bill consultation, with nearly all automated submissions opposing the disposable-vape ban. The Department of Health and Social Care excluded them, and the ban later became law. Researchers called it the first documented large-scale automated interference in a UK public health policy consultation.

UKAI botspublic consultationdisposable vapes

TThe Guardian★★★☆☆2026-10-27 22:30Original