By KAZUYA ITO/ Staff Writer
May 1, 2021 at 17:10 JST
Google Inc. headquarters in Mountain View, California (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Google Inc. has enlisted the help of the Justice Ministry to help it crack down on slanderous content on its YouTube service.
This makes it the first Japanese governmental organization to receive the formal designation as a reporter of questionable material.
Information provided by those given the designation receive priority when Google investigates content to gauge whether material is appropriate.
YouTube uses an automatic search system and information provided by users to weed out inappropriate content containing discriminatory or hateful language. Content found to violate YouTube’s guidelines is deleted.
Individuals and organizations with a proven track record of providing trustworthy information are given the designation of formally recognized reporter.
The Justice Ministry has been providing advice to individuals through its regional legal affairs bureaus with regard to online posts.
But for matters that go beyond what an individual can deal with, the Justice Ministry has also been investigating possible legal violations and asked operators and providers of websites and social media to delete inappropriate material.
The designation from Google should help the ministry more effectively handle such content.
In 2020, the Justice Ministry formally recognized 1,693 suspected online cases of human rights violations. In 2011, there were 636 such cases, while a record 2,217 were confirmed in 2017.
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