AI bots flooded UK vapes consultation with fake responses, researchers say

Three-quarters of replies to the 2023 government consultation were machine-generated in a failed bid to stop the disposable vapes ban

By LineZotpaper AI staff

Published28 October 2026

Updated28 October 2026

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Illustration: AI bots flooded UK vapes consultation with fake responses, researchers say

Artificial intelligence bots generated three-quarters of the responses to the UK government's 2023 consultation on its tobacco and vapes bill, in what researchers describe as the first documented attempt to use AI to derail health policymaking in the country. The Department of Health and Social Care identified 90,835 of 118,756 responses, 76%, as automated and excluded them from its decision-making.

Research published in the journal Tobacco Control by Dr Nason Maani of the University of Edinburgh and Prof Anna Gilmore of the University of Bath disclosed the attempt on Tuesday. All but two of the automated responses opposed the then Conservative government's plan to ban disposable vapes, part of Rishi Sunak's "smoke free generation" consultation. The department said the submissions were "often duplicated many times and sent at high frequency from a small number of IP addresses".

The researchers said the bombardment "appears to be the first documented instance of large-scale automated interference in a formal public health policy consultation". Maani said the threat was that future campaigns become harder to catch, and that "a handful of powerful interests" could end up looking like a mass movement.

The attempt failed. Labour inherited the tobacco and vapes bill in 2024 and passed it into law, including the ban on businesses selling or supplying disposable vapes.

Caroline Cerny, deputy chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, said the evidence that AI bots had been used to swamp a Department of Health consultation was "deeply concerning", pointing to the tobacco industry's history of undermining public health regulation and calling for safeguards. Azzurra Moores, associate director for information ecosystems at the thinktank Demos, described the attempt as "pretty alarming" and said there was "no single fix".

The Department of Health and Social Care said its "robust controls" had identified and removed the fake responses, and that it would remain alert to interference in future consultations.

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Analysis

Why This Matters

AI-driven manipulation could make public consultations unreliable, undermining one of the main ways governments open up decision-making to the public.
The case shows automated campaigns can be aimed at health regulation, which directly affects what products can be sold and how public health is protected.
Researchers warn future interference may be harder to detect, raising questions about how governments can verify that public input is genuine.

Background

The 2023 consultation sought views on the tobacco and vapes bill, which proposed banning disposable vapes as part of a "smoke free generation" policy under the Conservative government. Labour inherited the bill in 2024 and passed it into law, including the ban on selling or supplying disposable vapes. The department's bot-detection methods filtered out the automated responses before decisions were made, but the episode highlights how consultation processes can be targeted.

Key Perspectives

Researchers (Dr Nason Maani and Prof Anna Gilmore): the flood appears to be the first documented large-scale automated interference in a formal public health consultation, and future campaigns could be harder to catch. Action on Smoking and Health (Caroline Cerny): the evidence is deeply concerning, and safeguards are needed given the tobacco industry's history of seeking to undermine public health regulation. Demos (Azzurra Moores): the findings are alarming and there is no single fix; better screening and more transparency would help, but interference can adapt faster than departments can update their checks. Department of Health and Social Care: robust controls identified and removed the fake responses, the consultation helped inform the ban, and the department will not be deterred from promoting healthier living.

What to Watch

Whether future consultations show signs of more sophisticated automated responses that evade existing bot detection.
Whether further research identifies who was behind the campaign or similar attempts in other countries.
Whether the government strengthens consultation screening and transparency measures in response to AI-generated submissions.

Sources

Majority of responses to consultation on smoking Bill ‘generated by AI bots’ · The Irish News
AI bots flooded 2023 UK government consultation on disposable vapes ban · The Guardian
AI bots flooded 2023 UK government consultation on disposable vapes ban · The Guardian

Checked

12 claims in this story checked against 1 source: 11 supported.

Show each claim

SupportedAI bots flooded the UK government’s 2023 consultation with fake responses.World news | The Guardian: “AI bots flooded a government consultation with tens of thousands of fake responses”
SupportedThree-quarters of responses were machine-generated in a failed attempt to stop the disposable vapes ban.World news | The Guardian: “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.”
Partly supportedResearchers describe it as the first documented attempt to use AI to derail health policymaking in the UK.World news | The Guardian: “The bombardment “appears to be the first documented instance of large-scale automated interference in a formal public health policy consultation”, the researchers said.”
SupportedThe DHSC identified 90,835 of 118,756 responses (76%) as automated.World news | The Guardian: “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.”
SupportedThe DHSC excluded the 90,835 automated responses from its decision-making.World news | The Guardian: “The DHSC excluded the 90,835 automated responses from its decision-making.”
SupportedThe research was published in Tobacco Control and disclosed the attempt on Tuesday.World news | The Guardian: “The attempt to manipulate the outcome of the consultation was disclosed on Tuesday in research published in the journal Tobacco Control”
SupportedAll but two automated responses opposed the plan to ban disposable vapes.World news | The Guardian: “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.”
SupportedThe DHSC said submissions were often duplicated and sent frequently from a small number of IP addresses.World news | The Guardian: “The submissions were “often duplicated many times and sent at high frequency from a small number of IP addresses”, the DHSC said.”
SupportedMaani said future campaigns could become harder to catch and powerful interests could look like a mass movement.World news | The Guardian: ““the threat is that future campaigns become harder to catch, and what we can’t catch, we don’t know about. Such campaigns are a threat because they raise the possibility of a handful of powerful interests looking like a mass movement.””
SupportedLabour inherited the bill in 2024 and passed it into law, including a ban on businesses selling or supplying disposable vapes.World news | The Guardian: “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.”
SupportedCerny described the evidence that AI bots swamped a Department of Health consultation as “deeply concerning.”World news | The Guardian: ““Evidence that AI bots have been used to swamp a Department of Health consultation is deeply concerning.””
SupportedMoores called the attempt “pretty alarming” and said there was “no single fix.”World news | The Guardian: “Azzurra Moores, the associate director for information ecosystems at the thinktank Demos, described the attempt to derail the ban as “pretty alarming”.”