February 21, 2025

Japanese Communist Party Dietmember Tatsumi Kotaro on February 20 demanded that the government hold platform providers accountable for the spread of harmful posts on social media, including fake news, misinformation, rumors, defamation, and slander.

Tatsumi, at a meeting of the House of Representatives Committee on Internal Affairs and Communications on the same day, said, “In the space of speech on social networking sites which are operated based on the attention economy, provocative and sensational contents are prioritized over facts.” He pointed out that profit-making mechanisms and business models in social networking are playing a part in the spread of a variety of misinformation.

Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Murakami Seiichiro agreed on this point, expressing his concern by saying, “The business model of social media has a structure that induces articles with provocative or sensationalist titles and content because this generates revenues based on the number of clicks. This structure leads to the spread of disinformation and misinformation in some situations, which is a negative aspect of social media.”

Tatsumi stated, “Social media platform providers have the responsibility to prevent the spread of fake news.”

Murakami responded, “Platform operators have a social responsibility to reduce falsehoods and misinformation,” but he only said that he relies on “voluntary efforts”.

Tatsumi introduced the EU regulations, as well as penalties, that requires platform operators to provide options which are not based on analyzed data of users’ behavioral history.

Tamada Yasuhito, director-general for International and Technology Policy Coordination at the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry, said, “No similar rules or regulations exist in Japan.”

Past related articles:
> Women’s group demands that obscene ads on social media be restricted [December 26, 2024]
> Poverty lies behind new type of crimes committed by youth through social media [December 17, 2024]