Japanese Cross-Party of Lawmakers Question Social Platformers on Regulating Election Misinformation; Google LLC, X Corp., LY Corp., Attend Discussion
Ichihiro Aisawa, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party's Research Commission on the Election System, delivers a speech at an in-depth cross-party discussion on election campaigns at the Diet building on Thursday.
Ruling and opposition parties on Thursday began a cross-party, in-depth discussion to tackle election-related disinformation spread on social media and questioned operators of social platforms about what initiatives they have taken to counter it.
Major political parties have generally been consistent in agreeing on the importance of creating some regulations and discussing the details.
'Disinformation is clearly spreading online and is heavily affecting voters,' said Ichihiro Aisawa, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party's Research Commission on the Election System. He expressed deep concern over the confusion caused by false and misleading information seen in elections across the country last year.
An additional clause of the revised Public Offices Election Law, which came into effect on May 2, stipulates that 'necessary measures shall be taken' against disinformation, leading political parties to discuss the matter.
Representatives from YouTube operator Google LLC, X Corp. and LY Corp. attended Thursday's closed-door meeting that lasted over an hour in the Diet.
The operators explained their initiatives in three areas: monetization of campaign-related content, fact-checking and identification of social media posters, according to the sources present at the meeting.
The three operators explained their initiatives at a similar meeting held by the LDP in March. In the materials submitted at that time, each company insisted that it has voluntarily had its staff, specialized agencies and artificial intelligence systems delete text and video content deemed to be false or harmful.
Regarding monetization, LY said it would withhold payments if it confirmed violations of its terms of service, such as the spread of misinformation through short videos. These efforts were likely reported as well at Thursday's meeting to seek understanding.
However, such voluntary efforts have limited effectiveness. Lawmakers who attended the meeting reportedly discussed issues such as account verification, methods for removing false information and possible deterrent effects of suspending monetization.
'There are two aspects to this issue: freedom of expression and how to control the spread of false information,' said Hiroshi Oogushi, Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan Executive Deputy President. 'This is a very difficult issue, but we want to achieve results.'
He added that ways to fact-check would be further discussed in the future.
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