EXCLUSIVE: Survey Shows Transparency Gap among Social Media

Tokyo, March 31 (Jiji Press)–A Jiji Press survey has found a gap in social media operators’ transparency on measures to deal with defamation and problems linked to generative artificial intelligence. The survey, conducted through email by mid-March, preceded the first anniversary of the enforcement of Japan’s information distribution platform law, aimed at tackling the spread of illegal and harmful online content, on Wednesday. Of the nine companies subject to the law that were surveyed, five–Google LLC, LY Corp., Meta Platforms Inc., TikTok Pte. and CyberAgent Inc.–responded, saying that they comply with laws. However, Pinterest Europe Ltd., the operator of the namesake image-sharing platform, replied in English that it could not answer the survey questions. Social media platform X Corp., Shonan Seibu Home Co., which operates internet bulletin board “Bakusai.com,” and Dwango Co., the operator of the “Niconico” video-sharing platform, did not respond to multiple inquiries. Of the five responding companies, LY, which runs the Line messaging app and the Yahoo! Japan portal, said that in addition to accepting written requests to remove posts, the company has established an online contact point for those making requests. LY added that the number of such requests in fiscal 2025 surpassed those of the previous year. The law requires the nine operators to appoint at least one expert per service to examine possible law violations. LY said that it has eight experts dealing with five services, including Yahoo! Japan News, which is not regulated under the law. TikTok explained that it is strengthening its Japanese operations even further by appointing multiple experts. Google, which operates video-sharing platform YouTube and others, said more than 20,000 personnel work on deleting inappropriate content around the world. Meta, the operator of Facebook and others, and CyberAgent, which runs the Ameba blog, answered that their measures will be documented in annual reports. On AI-generated realistic videos, Google and TikTok request users to clarify that the videos were made by AI tools. TikTok also introduced a system managing recommendation algorithms to avoid biases toward specific topics. Answers from the five respondents also highlighted their struggle to balance regulations and freedom of expression. CyberAgent said improving the handling and detection of deepfake videos and images is a common challenge in the industry. Citing the difficulty of dealing with “gray” posts that are not obviously illegal and disinformation, LY said that making deletion mandatory would require extremely careful consideration. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]