AI bots generated three quarters of responses to UK smoke-free consultation

Three quarters of all responses to the UK’s 2023 public consultation on creating a smoke-free generation and restricting disposable vape sales were generated by AI bots, according to an analysis of publicly available data and Freedom of Information requests published in the journal Tobacco Control.

The responses were overwhelmingly aimed at opposing restrictions on disposable vape sales, and the scale and directional consistency of the submissions suggest a coordinated campaign, the researchers report.

In total, 118,756 responses were submitted to the consultation. The Department of Health and Social Care identified 90,835 of them—76 per cent—as fraudulent using bot detection methods, according to the analysis.

All of the bot-generated responses targeted a single multiple choice question, opposing the proposed restrictions on disposable vape sales. The same number of bot responses reported having learned of the consultation via social media, a pattern that further pointed to automated, coordinated submission rather than organic public engagement.

The filtering made a striking difference to the apparent outcome. After the bot responses were excluded, 77 per cent of the valid respondents supported restrictions on disposable vape sales—the opposite of what the unfiltered dataset would have indicated. In other words, the automated campaign did not merely inflate one side of the debate; it had the capacity to reverse the apparent direction of public opinion as recorded in the consultation record.

The researchers write that this appears to be the first documented instance of large-scale automated interference in a formal public health policy consultation. They note that AI bots have previously been used to spread health misinformation on social media platforms, but that public consultations, which are increasingly used to inform health regulation, are susceptible to automated interference as well.

While it is not possible to ascertain the commercial origins of the campaign, the researchers point out that transnational tobacco companies have previously sought to swamp public consultations with favourable responses, using mass recruitment campaigns and postcard submissions. The scale and directional consistency of the bot responses in this instance, they add, suggest a coordinated campaign consistent with prior evidence of tobacco industry efforts to manipulate public consultations through mass coordinated submissions.

The researchers acknowledge several limitations to their findings. They could not independently verify the bot detection methods used by the Department of Health and Social Care, because that information is not publicly available, and metadata and demographic information on the respondents was deemed exempt under Freedom of Information legislation. The findings may also not be applicable to other policy topics, and on the basis of the information received, it is impossible to attribute the source, intent, or commercial sponsorship of the campaign, the researchers emphasise.

The policy debate itself has since moved on: the UK’s Tobacco and Vapes Act received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026, making it illegal to ever sell tobacco products to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009, and restricting the supply and sale of disposable vapes.

The researchers conclude that as bot sophistication increases and public consultations expand across regulatory contexts, strengthening detection capacity and governance safeguards will be essential to maintaining the integrity of public health policymaking, particularly in lower-resource settings where screening infrastructure may be absent.

Subject of Research: Automated bot interference in the UK's 2023 smoke-free generation and disposable vape public consultation

Article Title: 3 out of 4 responses to UK smoke-free generation consultation were AI bot-generated

Article References: 3 out of 4 responses to UK smoke-free generation consultation were AI bot-generated. Original publication (Bibliographic details unavailable.)

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: Not provided

Keywords: public consultation, AI bots, smoke-free generation, disposable vapes, tobacco control, Tobacco and Vapes Act, automated interference, health policy, Freedom of Information, Department of Health and Social Care, vaping regulation, Tobacco Control journal