Tokyo, Oct. 23 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s internal affairs ministry Friday released draft guidelines outlining measures for social media operators to mitigate the adverse effects of false or misleading information online on elections. The guidelines cite suspending monetization of posts that undermine electoral fairness, detecting images and videos generated by artificial intelligence and displaying warnings about them as examples of recommended measures. The draft will be finalized as early as the end of this year so that the guidelines can be in place for the unified local elections in April next year. The draft was compiled in response to the revised public offices election law and the revised information sharing platform law, which were enacted in July. Concerns have been raised about the use of social media during election campaign periods, particularly over systems that allow users to earn money based on the number of views or video plays their posts receive, which have been blamed for contributing to the spread of radical content and false or misleading information. The guidelines also propose identifying users who monetize their posts and tightening the screening process for monetization. The revised public offices election law requires AI-generated images and videos to be labeled as such. The draft guidelines call for social media operators to detect such images and videos and display warnings if posters fail to label them as AI-generated. To prevent the spread of information that distorts social media users’ voting behavior, the draft guidelines include measures to detect the mass dissemination of information through the illicit use of multiple devices and programs, suspend the accounts involved and delete the posts in question. The guidelines would apply to 13 major social media operators, including Google LLC, X Corp. and LY Corp. To respect freedom of expression, the operators would be left to decide how to respond, and no penalties would be imposed. The ministry will invite public comments on the draft guidelines starting Saturday. “We will urge operators to take effective measures,” internal affairs minister Hisayuki Fujii said at a press conference Friday. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
