Almost all were against restricting vaping (Picture: Getty/Metro)
AI bots forged more than three-quarters of responses to a government consultation on a lifetime smoking ban,new research has found.
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will raise a ‘smoke-free generation’ by banning the sale or supply of tobacco to anyone born in 2009 or after.
Before it became law in April,the government launched a public consultation on how it should be done in October 2023.
But University of Edinburgh researchers discovered that of the 118,756 responses submitted,90,000 (76%) were automated.
The study,published yesterday in the journal Tobacco Control,found the phoney responses were mainly against plans to restrict vapes.
Health experts and consumer officials were worried that electronic cigarettes were being marketed with children in mind.
So under the law,vapes can no longer be sold online or in-store to people 17 years old or younger.
‘Confectionery’ vape flavours,like gummy bears or cotton candy,that public health campaigners say are marketed to teens,will also be banned.
Bots spammed the questions opposing this,Dr Nason Maani,the study’s lead author and a senior lecturer in inequality,tells Metro.
By this,Dr Maani says the submissions weren’t crammed with em dashes,emojis and flowery text,the hallmarks of AI-generated text.
Rather,the consultation reports and Department of Health and Social Care data showed a wave of almost identical multiple-choice answers,suggesting they were automated.
‘They described them in their consultation response as incompatible with the survey flow genuine respondents follow,often duplicated many times and sent at high frequency from a small number of IP addresses,consistent with a mass automated campaign,or “bots”,’ Dr Manni says,
Vaping is often seen as a safe or safer alternative to smoking (Picture: Getty Images)
His team aren’t sure what programmed the bots but the consultation’s results would have looked a lot different if the DHSC didn’t catch them.
‘What we can say is that consultations feed into policy,and results that appear to show public opposition can be used to argue against regulation,’ Dr Maani says.
‘Here,the raw figures,including bots,would have shown about 81% opposed to restrictions on disposable vapes,whereas among genuine respondents roughly four in five were in favour.
‘Anyone wanting to shift that picture has an obvious incentive.’
The sheer scale of the seemingly coordinated bot campaign is straight from the tobacco lobbyist playbook,Dr Maani adds.
‘The tactic is the same: swamping a consultation to create an impression of overwhelming public opinion,’ he says,
Researchers compared the coordinated bots to tobacco company tactics (Picture: AP Photo/Dave Martin)
‘We’re not claiming the same actors were involved here as that is not possible based on this data,only that the pattern is consistent with that history.’
Tobacco watchdogs have accused companies of staging pro-smoking recruitment campaigns,rigging public opinion and burying research.
Researchers and The Examination,a non-profit news outlet,have similarly found cigarette giants trying to sway the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.
The UK scored 45 out of 100 last year on the Tobacco Industry Interference Index,showing a ‘low’ level of tobacco company meddling.
Public consultations,sometimes called public comment,are a common step in making a law to hear from regular people and experts.
What worries Maani is that not every country has the bot-detecting tools the UK government has,so their consultations could be flooded with slop.
The team believe the responses were automated (Picture: Getty Images)
‘This time this tactic was caught,which is great,’ Maani adds.
‘I feel it is in the public interest that we are all made aware about such efforts to tip the scales,even when they fail,as this dynamic will only continue.
‘In spite of the cost of doing so,it’s also a reminder of the importance of deliberative approaches and live participation that are harder to automate.’
The DHSC said: ‘We always have robust controls in place to prevent the manipulation of our public consultations and those controls worked effectively in this 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.
‘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.’
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