Bots accused of hijacking anti-Brexit petition

[bemildred]

The online petition has 3.7 million signatures, but all of them may not be real.

An online petition that went viral over the weekend calls for a second referendum in the UK to decide definitively if the country should leave the European Union. The petition currently boasts 3.7 million signatures, but all is not as it seems.

The British Parliament's House of Commons Petitions Committee said Sunday it is looking into claims that some signatures were added fraudulently by bots. Automated bots, apparently created by users on 4chan message boards, may have added signatures from IP addresses in Vatican City, Antarctica and North Korea.

Signatures found to be added by bots will be removed, Petitions Committee Chair and Member of Parliament Helen Jones said in the statement.

http://www.cnet.com/news/online-petition-for-second-eu-referendum-hijacked-by-bots/#ftag=CAD590a51e

[Denzil_DC]

1. Doesn't matter,

though some of the media are trying to discredit it even before it's delivered.

With, last I looked, over 3.5 million signatures, it's well past the 100,000 threshold required for parliament to consider it, and it's been in the top headlines on BBC radio news over the weekend. I know my vote was genuine, so will be the vast majority of the others.

Then I and the other 48+ percent will have to find other ways to make our feelings known.

[brooklynite]

2. Doesn't matter; Tories have already said there won't be a new referendum