Japan Officials Battling Misinformation on Social Media

Tokyo, Aug. 10 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Foreign Ministry officials have begun to use social media under their own names to combat misinformation, after the Japan International Cooperation Agency's "hometown" project to promote exchanges between Japanese and African cities came under undue attack.

JICA had to scrap the project last year as local governments were flooded with protests after misinformation spread rapidly online that the project would lead to an increase in immigration into Japan.

Among the ministry officials is Misako Takahashi, director-general of the African Affairs Department. She opened her X account to dispel misconceptions surrounding the Japan-Africa Youth Program, which facilitates exchange visits between Japanese and African high school students.

Takahashi expressed concern in an X post in early July about criticism of the program. "There seems to be a misconception that this budget only covers visits to Japan by African high school students," she said in the post.

Between June and July, a total of 124 high school students visited Japan from Africa under the program, which has a budget of about 1 billion yen. Many social media posts claimed that 10 million yen was spent per African high school student.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]