BOTS FLOODED A GOVERNMENT CONSULTATION WITH 90,835 FAKES — AND FLIPPED IT

Researchers digging into the UK government's 2023 smokefree-generation consultation found 90,835 of its 118,756 responses — 76 percent — were flagged fraudulent by the Department of Health and Social Care's bot detection.

Nearly every fake response answered a single question, opposing restrictions on disposable vape sales, and claimed to have learned about the consultation on social media; with the fakes stripped out, four in five valid respondents backed the restrictions — the opposite of the rigged picture.

The authors call it the first peer-reviewed evidence of large-scale automated interference in a formal public health consultation, and say the findings show why public consultations need robust safeguards before the next campaign.