Japan eyes responsibility of social media users during elections

Japanese political parties are examining the idea of having social media users bear the responsibility of not spreading false or wrong information during election campaign periods.

Members of a consulting group between the ruling and opposition camps are also considering obliging social media service providers to take necessary steps to reduce the negative impact of such misinformation on elections.

These ideas are included in a rough outline of proposed revisions to the public offices election law and the information distribution platform law.

The legislation to make the revisions will be formalized soon. The government expects to get the legislation enacted during the current parliamentary session ending in July.

According to the outline, the revised election law would stipulate that “social media users must not harm the fairness of elections” through false statements or factual distortion.

Users would be obliged to attach warning labels when posting videos or images that were created with generative artificial intelligence technology but may be mistaken for genuine ones.

The revised platform law would require social media businesses to take “necessary measures” to reduce the negative impact on elections of information that violates laws, contains falsehoods or distorts facts, and to report to the government once a year.

If things progress without complications, the revisions would be enforced on March 1, 2027, ahead of the campaign periods for unified local elections next spring.