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July 20, 2025
 

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FAKE NEWS

A think tank researcher said anti-government propaganda by Russian bot accounts was what has made the small far-right party Sanseito so popular leading up to the Upper House election.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 18, 2025
Concerns grow in Japan over possible Russian interference in Sunday’s election
A blog post from a member of the Japan Institute of Law and Information Systems went viral for stating Russian bots were interfering in the upcoming Upper House election.
A photograph taken in Guildford, south of London on Sunday AI-created images of Holocaust-related subjects, displayed on laptop and mobile phone screens. The monochrome photo posted on Facebook is not real, but generated by AI.
WORLD / Society
Jul 15, 2025
Holocaust AI fakes spark alarm
Critics say that AI-generated images, text and videos are offensive and contribute to Holocaust distortion by conjuring up a "fantasy-land Auschwitz."
People whose prime news sources are online platforms stood at 73%, far surpassing the 13% who chose newspapers, a government white paper showed on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 8, 2025
Almost three quarters of Japan looks online first for news, white paper reports
People whose primary news sources are online platforms stood at 73%, far surpassing the 13% who chose newspapers, according to the communications ministry.
CIA director John Ratcliffe departs after a briefing with members of Congress in Washington on June 27.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 3, 2025
Trump’s CIA backs 2016 assessment that Putin wanted him to win
The latest findings put CIA director John Ratcliffe in a bind with Trump, who has called Russian election interference "a total hoax” and blasted the original conclusions.
Taiwan, under constant threat from AI-powered disinformation by authoritarian regimes, has emerged as a global leader in digital democratic defense.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 30, 2025
Taiwan provides a model for digital defense of democracy
As the U.S. and others struggle to confront AI-driven disinformation, Taiwan’s resilience has become its latest key export.
A voter takes a photograph of a candidate running for a Tokyo assembly seat, in Tokyo on June 21.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 27, 2025
Lawmaker hints at new social media regulations as misinformation taints elections
Under a new law, social media sites can remove posts defaming political candidates if creators don't respond within two days, but lawmakers say that's too long.
A draft interim report calls on social media service providers to introduce voluntary regulations designed to suspend monetization in the event of a disaster, to curb the spread of disinformation.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 24, 2025
Japan aims to regulate social media monetization in disasters
The report calls on social media service providers to suspend monetization in the event of a disaster, to curb the spread of disinformation.
Police clash with protesters who had shut down Highway 101 in Los Angeles on June 8. Misleading photographs, videos and text have spread widely on social media as protests against immigrant raids have unfolded in Los Angeles, rehashing old conspiracy theories.
WORLD
Jun 14, 2025
U.S. adversaries fuel disinformation about LA protests
The findings from researchers illustrate how foreign adversaries of the United States are exploiting deep divisions in American society as a tactic of information warfare.
Voters in Tokyo listen to a speech by a candidate in Japan's Oct. 27, 2024 general election.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 13, 2025
Japan news media association pledges accurate news for elections
The statement says that social media platforms should take proactive measures against fake and false information on the internet.
A group of media companies have launched a fact-checking initiative for election-related online information, beginning with this month's Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 4, 2025
Media firms launch election fact-checking initiative
The collaboration between Jiji Press, the Yomiuri Shimbun group, Saga Shimbun and Nippon Television Network aims to enhance the fairness and credibility of fact-checking work.
A woman walks past a store in Seoul's Daerim neighborhood, home to thousands of ethnic Chinese. China has displaced longtime foe and former colonial power Japan in many South Koreans' minds as the country's most distrusted neighbor in recent years.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 2, 2025
China displaces old foe Japan in South Koreans' minds ahead of vote
Analysts say that a series of clashes between Beijing and Seoul in recent years over history, territory and defense are the root cause of the schism.
A new law to promote the development of artificial intelligence while addressing its risks passed at an Upper House plenary meeting on Wednesday.
JAPAN
May 28, 2025
Japan enacts bill to promote AI development and address its risks
The new law includes a provision to allow the government to disclose the names of malicious businesses in the event of crime using AI.
AI hallucinations — when generative models fabricate information — are becoming more frequent, harder to detect and increasingly dangerous as we embed the technology deeper into society.
COMMENTARY / World
May 28, 2025
AI hallucinations? What could go wrong?
The notion that we can’t ensure that AI will produce accurate information is, uh, “disturbing” if we intend to integrate that product so deeply into our daily lives.
U.S. President Donald Trump shows a copy of an article he said is about white South Africans who had been killed, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
WORLD
May 23, 2025
Trump's image of dead 'white farmers' did not come from footage of South Africa
The image U.S. President Donald Trump used was pulled from footage shot following deadly battles with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Men read newspapers with front-page articles on the India-Pakistan conflict, in Amritsar, India, on May 8, a day after India launched strikes on Pakistan.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 13, 2025
No truce in India-Pakistan disinformation war
Platforms such as Facebook and X are still flooded with misrepresented footage of the attacks that killed at least 60 people and sent thousands fleeing.
The Diet building in Tokyo
JAPAN / Politics
May 3, 2025
Parties remain apart on social media rules for elections
Senior officials of ruling and opposition parties broadly agreed Saturday on the need to regulate election misinformation on social media, but were apart over specific measures.
Unlike past U.S. presidents who demanded that adversaries curb subversion before improving ties, Donald Trump and his administration are dismantling America’s defenses against foreign meddling without securing anything in return — leaving the country vulnerable.
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2025
Why is Trump unilaterally dismantling U.S. defenses?
Trump may reorganize agencies within the law, but his sweeping cuts to national security defies 2,000 years of great powers using deterrence and diplomacy to manage threats.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks during a campaign rally in Laval, Quebec, Canada, on Tuesday. Carney was the subject of at least 16 books published in March and listed on Amazon, according to a review of the site on April 16.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 23, 2025
AI floods Amazon with strange political books before Canadian election
The development adds to concerns about how new technologies are affecting the information voters receive during the election campaign.
Former Foreign Minister Taro Kono
BUSINESS
Apr 23, 2025
Japan must correct Trump’s false data for trade talks, says Kono
Kono said matters related to regional security shouldn’t be discussed as part of the trade talks, nor should the question of how best to manage relationships with China.
A video circulating on Chinese social media depicting a "U.S. sweatshop"
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 18, 2025
Chinese vent anger at Trump's trade war with memes and mockery
Chinese online warriors have taken advantage of the massive strides in AI to create memes highlighting that many of the goods bought by Americans are made in their country.
Living conditions index hits lowest level in 15 years in Japan
The share of respondents to a Bank of Japan quarterly survey in June who said they have become worse off came to 61.0%, up 5.1 percentage points from the previous survey.
Tokyo emerges as a top market for global tech talent
Tokyo ranks among the world's top tech talent hubs alongside Beijing, the San Francisco Bay Area, Bengaluru, Paris, New York and Dublin, according to Colliers' newly released global tech markets report.
From stalking to death threats, female candidates still face harassment
Mayu Ushida, a former NHK newscaster running for election in the Tokyo electoral district on the Democratic Party for the People ticket, signs an autograph for a voter after a public rally at Shinjuku Station in Tokyo on Tuesday.
CDP leader criticizes ‘Japanese First’ policy and calls for inclusive society
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda said it is obvious that Japanese society could not function without the help of foreign workers in manufacturing, health care, construction and public transportation.
JSA’s 100th anniversary event is a once-in-a-lifetime chance for sumo fans
Egyptian wrestler Osunaarashi has some fun with children during a special Japan Sumo Association event in 2017.
Japan's rice farmers are confounded by Shinjiro Koizumi’s policies
Kiyoshi Shibata stands in front of one of the rice paddies in Murayama, Yamagata Prefecture, where he produces the prefecture's signature rice brand Tsuyahime.
From stalking to death threats, female candidates still face harassment
Mayu Ushida, a former NHK newscaster running for election in the Tokyo electoral district on the Democratic Party for the People ticket, signs an autograph for a voter after a public rally at Shinjuku Station in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Kawaii Lab redefines idol pop for the TikTok generation
Misa Kimura is the main producer for Kawaii Lab, a project by entertainment agency Asobisystem whose groups have found success by pairing a social media-first strategy with a fresh perspective on traditional idol-pop tropes.
Craig Mod's life in motion in a disappearing Japan
Mod's memoir “Things Become Other Things” chronicles his walking trips across the Kii Peninsula, surveying “a graceful end to a certain life cycle.”
With China and Trump, Japan defense report says world entering ‘new era of crisis’
A senior member of a Self-Defense Forces honor guard inspects a formation before the arrival of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba for a visit to the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on June 30.

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