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2021 October 20 - 26 TOP3 [POLITICS]

LDP suspected of having a hand in fake news Twitter account

The Twitter account "Dappi" repeats posting disinformation about opposition parties and attacking media critical of the government. The person engaged in the operation of "Dappi" is a relative of the Liberal Democratic Party's top secretariat. The Akahata Sunday edition on October 24 exclusively revealed this fact, drawing public attention.

Dappi has more than 170,000 followers. While praising the LDP and the "Ishin no Kai" party, it posts factually inaccurate information about opposition parties and certain media, and plays a key role to disseminate the false information. It has been an issue that the company, which administers this account, has businesses with the LDP.

The Akahata Sunday editorial desk identified the name of the company in question. The company has its head office in a building in Tokyo with about ten staff members, handling web design work and advertising work. It was established in November 2001. According to a private research firm, the company's major client is the LDP.

A source close to the LDP testified that the president of that company is a relative of the head of the secretariat at the LDP headquarters, Motojuku Hitoshi, 76. The source said, "I saw the company president at the LDP headquarters and the LDP metropolitan chapter's office."

The political funds reports show that this company received payments from "the federation of LDP Tokyo chapters" as homepage-related expenses and expenses for "LDP school of government and management" every year. Since 2013 under the second Abe government, the company received payments of as much as 7.25 million yen in total from the LDP Tokyo federation.

If it turns out that the LDP uses this company to manipulate public opinion, it will be a serious problem shaking the foundation of the country's democracy. It is unforgivable to use political funds for the diffusion of fictitious information for the purpose of manipulating public opinion.

So far, both the president and Motojuku have not responded to an inquiry from the Akahata Sunday editorial desk.