Japan Eyes Responsibility of Social Media Users during Elections

Tokyo, June 13 (Jiji Press)--Japanese political parties are examining the idea of having social media users bear the responsibility of not spreading false or wrong information during election campaign periods.

Members of a consultative group between the ruling and opposition camps are also considering obliging social media service providers to take necessary steps to reduce the negative impact of such information on elections.

These ideas are included in a rough outline of proposed revisions to the public offices election law and the information distribution platform law.

The legislation to make the revisions will be formalized soon. The government expects to get the legislation enacted during the current parliamentary session ending in July.

According to the outline, the revised election law would stipulate that "social media users must not harm the fairness of elections" through false statements or factual distortion.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]