India's RCom Sells £ 221.63 million Worth Assets to Reliance Jio

• The Department of Health and Social Care identified 90,835 of 118,756 submissions as fraudulent
• After automated responses were excluded, 79.6 per cent of valid respondents supported restrictions on disposable vape sales
• Researchers warn increasingly sophisticated bots could threaten the integrity of future public consultations

Artificial intelligence bots generated more than three-quarters of responses to a UK government consultation on tobacco and vaping restrictions, in what researchers describe as the first documented instance of large-scale automated interference in a formal public health consultation.

A study published in the journal Tobacco Control found that 90,835 of the 118,756 submissions received during the 2023 consultation on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill were identified as fraudulent by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).