Photo/Illutration A proposal to revise a political ethics ordinance to ban 'likes' on social media posts that violate human rights is submitted to the Mie prefectural assembly on Nov. 21. (Tomohiro Yamamoto)

TSU—The Mie prefectural assembly, responding to the uproar over an assemblyman’s online behavior, is deliberating an ordinance that will ban members from concurring with social media posts that infringe on human rights.

Eight prefectural assembly members from all six caucuses jointly submitted the proposal to the assembly on Nov. 21.

The ordinance would ban not only discriminatory words, bullying, abuse, invasions of privacy and defamation by assembly members on social media and elsewhere but also “likes” for posts that encourage such human rights violations.

The assembly is expected to approve the ordinance before the current session ends on Dec. 20.

According to the assembly secretariat, the proposed political ethics ordinance revision is the first submitted to a prefectural assembly that includes a provision banning human rights violations.

Acts suspected of violating the ordinance will be judged by the assembly political ethics committee.

The proposal does not contain any penalties, but any member found to have violated the ordinance will be asked to apologize to the assembly or to refrain from attending assembly sessions.

The catalyst for the proposal came in 2021 when social media posts by Takatora Kobayashi, 48, a Mie prefectural assemblyman of the Liberal Democratic Party, came under the spotlight.

In one post, he included the address of a same-sex couple on his blog without authorization.

Immediately after he apologized for that post in the prefectural assembly, Kobayashi was found to have “liked” tweets that defamed the couple he had doxxed.

More recently, Kobayashi claimed on social media that a large percentage of online views opposed to the state funeral held for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in September came from a “neighboring continent.”

He later admitted the tweet was inaccurate.

Fifteen sessions have been held so far to discuss the content of the proposed ordinance.

Some members warned that the proposal could limit freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution. Others said it would be difficult to determine if a “like” was clear expression of agreement with a view because “likes” are used in various ways.

Some members said they were embarrassed by the need for an ordinance prohibiting violations of human rights.

Tomio Hattori, who served as deputy chairman of the committee discussing the proposal, said, “Members must act in a proper manner so that the ordinance does not have to be implemented.”

Masahito Tadano, a professor of constitutional law at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo, said because assembly members are held to a high level of ethics, any member who acts in an improper manner should be dealt with severely.

But he added that trust in the assembly might be put in doubt by an ordinance that clearly defines what is considered prohibited.

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