Research reveals that an army of AI bots flooded the UK government’s 2023 public consultation on disposable vapes with thousands of automated objections. The coordinated campaign aimed to influence the legislative process, raising concerns about the integrity of public consultations.
According to research published in late October 2026, the UK government’s 2023 public consultation on disposable vapes was heavily targeted by automated AI bots. Thousands of AI-generated responses flooded the submission system in a coordinated effort to influence the outcome against a ban. Researchers noted that the sheer scale of the operation made it difficult to distinguish authentic citizen feedback from artificial inputs.
Although the consultation preceded the eventual introduction of strict regulations under the Tobacco and Vapes Act, the incident highlights vulnerabilities in democratic participatory tools. Governance experts are now calling for enhanced identity verification methods for future public consultations to prevent similar manipulation, particularly as European regulators review their own tobacco and nicotine policies.
In Brief
- AI bots flooded the UK’s 2023 disposable vape consultation with thousands of automated objections.
- The coordinated operation aimed to influence the outcome of the public policy procedure.
- The discovery raises concerns regarding the reliability of digital public consultations in the era of generative AI.
- Experts suggest tightening verification processes for future regulatory consultations across Europe and the UK.
Source: Vapoteurs (vapoteurs.net)
This summary was created by artificial intelligence based on the original article.