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The communications ministry is struggling to grasp the severity of defamatory messages and fake news posted online largely because IT giants are reluctant to disclose information about the issue in Japan, sources said.

Some experts are calling for a legal framework to require those companies, such as Twitter Inc. and Google, to release such information.

An expert panel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has asked companies, including social media networks, to disclose how many harmful messages they have deleted in Japan.

The panel also asked them to describe how they respond to requests in Japan to delete such messages, as well as what countermeasures they have in place to prevent abusive messages from being posted.

However, most of the companies refused to disclose such information at the panel’s hearing held on March 7.

Twitter, for example, mentioned how many requests it had received from courts and others to delete defamatory and slanderous tweets, but it would not say how many posts it had actually deleted.

Meta, formally Facebook, Google and Twitter all declined to describe their systems or arrangements in Japan to respond to requests for the removal of harmful posts.

In contrast, Yahoo Japan Corp. and Line Corp., which operate mainly in Japan, disclosed numbers, figures and operational details concerning the issue.

The IT giants said one reason they could not disclose the requested information is that it is difficult to identify which deleted messages were initially posted by someone in Japan.

They also said that their teams that are handling these issues operate globally, making it tough to accurately say how many employees are devoted to Japanese cases.

A representative from Twitter even asked the panel members what benefit could come from disclosing such information.

A panel member later said the hearing made it clear that companies will not disclose information unless there is a legal framework requiring them to do so.

Currently in Japan, people targeted by defamatory and slanderous messages online can use the Provider Liability Limitation Law to ask social media companies and others to disclose information about those who uploaded the abusive posts.

But how to deal with such posts is largely left to the discretion of each company, reflecting the government’s stance of supporting freedom of expression.

The ministry’s consultation center on illegal and harmful online information handled 5,407 cases in fiscal 2020, a fourfold increase over the previous 10 years.

The center advises people on how to deal with illegal and harmful information posted online.

Calls for tougher measures to prevent online harassment increased after Hana Kimura, a professional wrestler, committed suicide in 2020 after becoming the target of online abuse following an appearance in the “Terrace House” reality television program.

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