Less than a month away from the Upper House election, parties worried about misinformation and defamatory content regarding candidates spreading online are seeking help from social media platforms while hinting at new legislation if corporate actions fall short.
Lawmakers from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party met with representatives from X, Google and LY — operator of Line and Yahoo services — in May, requesting that they delete false or defamatory content about candidates on the same day it is uploaded, and to suspend any payouts to the accounts posting it.
Social media platforms are exempt from liability when removing posts if creators do not respond in seven days, under the information distribution platform law, which took effect in April. Exceptions apply to posts defaming political candidates, for which the grace period is reduced to two days.
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