By KENRO KURODA/ Staff Writer
May 31, 2024 at 15:19 JST
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Discussions are proceeding in a government panel on strengthening measures to root out fake social media ads used in investment scams.
A group of experts with the communications ministry met on May 30 to lay out the main points of future discussions on this issue.
One point to be discussed is to obligate platform operators, such as Meta, which operates Facebook and Instagram, to compile and disclose their screening standards for ads to be posted on the internet.
Another point is whether such operators should be required to compile and disclose their standards for blocking ads that have already been posted.
The panel will also discuss whether a new body should be established to accept solicitations from the public for removing offensive ads.
The list of points suggested that the measures would be aimed at major platform operators with a certain number of users and views of ads on the social media sites.
Meta and X, formerly known as Twitter, already have regulations regarding assessing and deleting ads. However, there have been complaints that companies are not following through to quickly remove fake ads.
Some members of the panel have called for greater transparency about the responses made by platform operators in connection with suspect ads.
On May 24, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party submitted its proposal regarding stricter social media ad regulations.
Another point brought up at the May 30 panel meeting was how to restrain the spread of fake or misleading information.
But panel members were also well aware that delicate issues such as freedom of expression could be infringed upon if the measures become too strict.
That led to calls for cautious discussions about deletion of posts or the termination of social media accounts found to frequently have such ads.
Tatsuhiko Yamamoto, a law professor at Keio University who compiled the discussion points, touched upon the need for careful debate.
“In the discussions so far, we have strived to strike a balance between the need to overcome the various issues in the information universe and the need to secure freedom of expression by restraining excessive interference on the part of the government,” he said.
The panel is expected to compile its proposal sometime this summer.
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