Misuse1 sourceFirst seen
Bots Stuffed the Vape Ballot Box and Still Lost the Vote
Ourtake
Three-quarters of the public feedback was machine-made, which makes this the first consultation where the robots had stronger opinions than the people.
What happened
Researchers and the UK Department of Health and Social Care found that 90,835 of 118,756 responses to a 2023 consultation on disposable vapes were submitted by bots, nearly all opposing the planned ban. The department excluded the automated responses from its decision-making, and the ban was later passed into law.