Ummmm, this is an extraordinary claim by the new Deputy Prime Minister…
ACT leader David Seymour has claimed 99.5 percent of the submissions received on the Regulatory Standards Bill were created using “bots”.
The Ministry for Regulation received approximately 23,000 submissions regarding a discussion document about the bill in January.
Submissions on the bill itself are open until June 23
In summarising the feedback, it found 88 percent of submitters opposed the proposed regulations, and 0.33 percent supported or partially supported them.
But in an interview on this week’s episode of 30 with Guyon Espiner, the newly-appointed deputy prime minister claimed most of the opposing submissions weren’t valid.
“You’re smart enough to know that those 23,000 submissions, 99.5 percent of them, were because somebody figured out how to make a bot make fake submissions that inflated the numbers,” Seymour said.
The figures quoted were “meaningless” and represented nothing more than somebody “running a smart campaign with a bot”.
When asked what evidence Seymour had that the submissions were fake, he said it’s because “we’ve looked at them. Because we know what the contents of them is”.
In a subsequent written statement to RNZ, Seymour said he was referring to “online campaigns” that generate “non-representative samples” that don’t reflect public opinion.
“Any decent journalist would know the online campaigns I was referring to, I suspect the general public certainly will. Any decent journalist would also know that presenting non-representative samples as reflecting public opinion is breaching basic standards of journalism,” the statement said.
“Thankfully I think most Kiwis see right through this, which might reflect RNZ’s declining listenership.”
…ummmm. I submitted against this terrible Bill and I’m not a Bot.
What evidence does David have that Bots were creating fake submissions because using Bot Farms would be incredibly dishonest and an affront to the democratic process…
In a statement, Ministry for Regulation deputy chief executive policy Andrew Royle would not address Seymour’s claims about bots directly.
Royle said the ministry undertook a “robust process” to analyse all of the submissions received.
“Our approach was carefully designed to reflect all submissions in the final analysis, noting there were many similar points made across most of the submissions,” he said.
The ministry’s summary shows its process included a “qualitative” analysis of about 1000 individual submissions. Group submissions and submissions over 10,000 words were read separately. The rest were summarised using AI.
There was nothing in the report about bots or other interference in the submissions process.
…so David has no evidence?
Maybe he should talk to his mates at the Taxpayers’ Union, because they seem to have the details on Bot Farms.
…hmmmm.
Walk us through this again please Deputy Prime Minister?
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youre right, a bot would be much more intelligent.
…than Seymour.
I submitted for the RSB, and I am not a Bot!
Well, the funny old thing is in NZ such submissions on proposed legislation must be linked to real people-with a name, address and contact details.
Seymour is having everyone on here, using a “form” submission from an organisation is not bots. Needs to be slapped down yet again.
Well, the funny old thing is in NZ such submissions on proposed legislation must be linked to real people-with a name, address and contact details.
Seymour is having everyone on here, using a “form” submission from an organisation is not bots. Needs to be slapped down yet again.
“The ministry’s summary shows its process included a “qualitative” analysis of about 1000 individual submissions. Group submissions and submissions over 10,000 words were read separately. The rest were summarised using AI.”
So, the bulk of submissions were not read, they were summarised using AI, and then the summaries presumably read.
And Seymour therefore proclaims 99.5% of submissions were written by a bot, “Because we know what the contents of them is.”
Perhaps the deputy PMs declining support in the polls is a result of his absolute fuckwittery.
ACT, the party of cunts and fucktards.
That’s his excuse. He knows it’s a lie, but he has to comfort himself somehow.
The ToW submissions showed him he doesn’t have much support. He’s very aware that he’s only in parliament at all, because he and National manipulated the rules.
He KNOWS he’s deeply unpopular. It’s the story of his life. Unpopular everywhere he goes.
He knows he’s and his party are imposters who don’t deserve the power they have.
This talk indicates he’s very nervous and is trying to manipulate and pre-empt the result again. It’s what narcissists do. Mr. Personality Disorder is waiting for the axe to fall.
The right all seem very impatient with the whole democratic process. They would all love to be dictators.
Seymour will say we don’t need the submission system soon, because it doesn’t suit his agenda.
His agenda Joy, is a copy and paste from Donald Trump’s alternative facts playbook. No evidence because there is no evidence when one continues to lie like Seymour.
Can David Seymour stoop any lower? Yes he can and he will. He is wallowing in this Coalition of Corruption, Chaos, Carnage and doing all he can, using distractions, to muddy the waters so he gets his own selfish way. Well it’s no longer working as intelligent New Zealanders are waking up to his destructive and egotistical antics. He has failed miserably and can’t/won’t admit he could actually ever be wrong on anything! He has stuffed up School Lunches; failed to bring in a Treaty Principles Bill; implemented Charter Schools [a joke]; allowed his party to bring in the Pay Equity Reforms [his dumbest move]; now pushing a failing Regulatory Standards Bill but lying that opposition are bots; hugely responsible for the Northland Meth Boom although warned; now meddling with Nationalising ECE; Hoggard’s Infant Formula. In fact it’s a list of endless failures. And on top of the above, his association with Atlas and the NZ Initiative makes him a danger to NZ. As we all know, there is a solution to every problem. Bring it on!
So the 3% in favor were written by a bot as well then ,prove other wise .
Well 99.5 percent of votes for ACT were invalid because they were from morons.