Social Media and Elections: Efforts Are Needed to Discern Reliable Information
There are many issues to be addressed in terms of legal regulations, such as who will determine the veracity of the vast amount of information on social media. However, a situation must be avoided in which false information influences people's voting behavior.
To that end, the ruling and opposition parties should accelerate efforts to put regulations in place. At the same time, voters will also be put to the test regarding their ability to discern accurate information by exposing themselves to diverse views without blindly accepting unverified posts on social media.
The Liberal Democratic Party has compiled a draft proposal on measures against false information related to elections and presented it to other political parties. The proposal calls for amending the Public Offices Election Law and other relevant regulations in a bid to get the operators of social media platforms to voluntarily strengthen their efforts to reduce false information.
However, the ruling and opposition parties have been deeply split on this matter, and discussions are expected to carry over to after this summer's House of Councillors election.
The draft proposal calls on social media platform operators to delete incorrect posts and false information immediately at the request of political parties and candidates.
It also urges operators to suspend advertising payments to social media posters who spread false information. The proposal wants platform operators to be exempted from liability to prevent them from hesitating to suspend ad payments out of fear that posters will seek damages.
The mechanism in which advertising revenue is generated based on the number of views on social media is said to fuel the proliferation of extreme posts and false information. It seems that suspending advertising payments would be an effective measure to prevent the dissemination of such information.
Many members of both ruling and opposition parties argue that regulating social media posts could infringe upon the freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution. There also seems to be a desire among them to make effective use of social media for their own election campaigns.
However, the Constitution stipulates that rights such as freedom of expression shall be exercised 'for the public welfare.' It appears to be reasonable to regulate the dissemination of false information that distorts the fairness of elections.
The Romanian constitutional court annulled the results of that nation's presidential election last year, ruling that false information on social media had influenced the outcome. Russia is believed to have manipulated information to help a pro-Russian candidate win.
In a redo of the election last month, authorities required social media posts related to the election to be labeled as campaigning and ordered platform operators to delete posts that did not comply with this rule.
In Europe, countries have increasingly implemented measures to counter false information.
Meanwhile, four companies that are members of the Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association, including The Yomiuri Shimbun, intend to begin fact-checking the accuracy of online information on their own initiative, starting with this month's Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election. If such efforts spread, that could help voters make judgments.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, June 8, 2025)
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