During a television debate Saturday, senior officials of ruling and opposition parties broadly agreed on the need to regulate election misinformation on social media, but were far apart over specific measures.
"We first need to use existing laws and regulations, such as the public offices election law and the Penal Code," Ichiro Aisawa, chairman of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's Research Commission on the Election System, said. "It is very important to clarify the responsibilities of social media service providers."
Noting that people may vote based on what they read on social media, even when accuracy is unknown, Hiroshi Ogushi, executive deputy president of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, said that "it is necessary to introduce regulations in light of the links between social media and elections."
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