AI Tool Tied to Philip Morris Flooded EU Tobacco Consultation With Dutch Responses
An investigation by NOS and Pointer found that an AI tool linked to Philip Morris International generated the bulk of Dutch responses to a European Commission consultation on stricter tobacco rules. The consultation drew more than 80,000 responses in a month, where 97 percent of comparable consultations stay under 1,000. Researchers analyzed over 65,000 responses across 15 EU countries using the AI detector Pangram plus statistical models, and assessed 35 percent as highly likely fully AI-generated.
In the Netherlands, 786 responses were examined and 71 percent judged almost certainly fully AI-written, most attributed to a PMI campaign tool called Your Voice Your Choice, promoted via posters in tobacco shops and QR codes on the IQOS website. The tool, since taken offline, was a guided response generator, not a chatbot: eleven of twelve selectable talking points produced arguments against stricter regulation, and of 370 responses linked to it with high confidence, only six supported tighter rules. Generated texts also inserted arguments users never selected.
Leiden University lobbying researcher Rik Joosen summarized it precisely: the tool got citizens to participate, but not with their own, genuine, unsteered voice. Public consultations are a formal input into EU lawmaking, including the AI files. Watch how the Commission handles the tainted responses, and whether Brussels sets authenticity rules for consultations before the next big regulatory window opens.