Japan’s parliament on Monday enacted a law tightening rules on social media use in elections, seeking to maintain fairness by prohibiting the spread of false information about candidates and obligating platform operators to limit its impact.
With the increasing use of social media in politics, concerns remain about the effectiveness of the measures, as platform operators will not face any penalties for failing to comply with the new measures outlined by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
The cross-party law aims to counter fake online information during election campaigns while protecting freedom of expression and ensuring the availability of accurate information.
The government aims to enforce the changes by March 1, 2027, ahead of unified local elections in the spring, expected to be the next major democratic event on Japan’s political calendar.
The bill, submitted by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, its junior coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, and four opposition parties, passed the House of Councillors.
The changes to the public offices election law and the law on information distribution platforms will also require users to indicate when they have posted images or videos that have been created or modified using artificial intelligence.
