Social Media and Elections: Politics Today / Japan Needs to Prepare for Foreign Interference in Polls; Constitutional Reform Referendums a Likely Target

Yomiuri Shimbun

a day ago

The Yomiuri Shimbun
A collage of images taken at political gatherings
This is the third and final installment in a series that examines how political parties understand and are dealing with the confusion caused by social media during elections.
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Loud cheers broke out among Romanian voters on the morning of May 18, when a presidential election candidate appeared at a polling station in the suburbs of Bucharest. But the focus of the attention on the day of the runoff for the country's presidential poll was not the candidate but the man standing next to him, Calin Georgescu.
The venue was plunged into frenzy as excited supporters chanted 'President Georgescu!'
Far-right, pro-Russian Georgescu came from nowhere to win the first round of an election in November last year, aided mostly by a flood of TikTok videos promoting his campaign. Through the short videos, Georgescu amassed support from people dissatisfied with the government.
But the Romanian constitutional court annulled the election after intelligence authorities and others disclosed confidential documents revealing about 25,000 fake social media accounts with confirmed links to Georgescu's campaign and that about $380,000 (¥55 million) had been paid to more than 100 influencers involved in the propaganda activities. Russia's involvement was also suspected, leading to Georgescu being barred from running in the presidential election rerun held in May.
While large-scale foreign interference in elections has not yet been confirmed in Japan, it is a growing possibility.
'Efforts to influence public opinion in Japan via the internet are being carried out. A Russian-linked news agency had been manipulating influencers and spreading posts using bots,' a former high-ranking government official said.
While not providing details, the former official said that U.S. authorities informed Japan several years ago that it was a target of Russia's intervention in elections. Subsequent investigations found relevant pro-Russian activities online, and the situation was reported to the Prime Minister's Office.
The threat is not limited to elections. In Britain, Russian or Iranian interference in the 2016 Brexit referendum was alleged. In Japan, referendums on constitutional reform could be a target.
'If their primary goal is to divide public opinion, referendums on constitutional reform serve as the perfect target,' said Keiro Kitagami, an independent member of the House of Representatives. 'Japan has been protected from such interventions thanks to the language barrier, but now that translation systems have become so sophisticated, we need to be aware of the danger.'
Constitutional amendment being freely and openly debated on both sides is desirable. It is common knowledge among political parties that the expression of opinions should be 'as free as possible with minimal restriction.' However, such lax regulations and a high possibility of intense debate on the issue leave a lot of room for foreign forces to exploit the situation.
Concerns were raised at a meeting of the House of Representatives' Commission on the Constitution on April 10, where the issue of how to deal with false and misleading information on social media in the event of a national referendum was discussed. Many participants said it is important to strengthen fact-checking measures.
'We must resolutely prevent foreign forces from interfering in referendums through fake news,' said Keishi Abe of the Japan Innovation Party.
At a meeting of the commission on May 22, J. F. Oberlin University Prof. Kazuhiro Taira said he expects the active involvement of the mass media in fact-checking efforts. He added that the efforts should be led by the private sector rather than public institutions.
There are many other issues that need to be addressed, including measures to prevent the monetization of social media under the guise of election campaigns and placing more responsibility on platform operators. In order to safeguard the integrity of speech, the Diet has only just begun to move its heavy feet.
(This series was written by Koichiro Shigematsu, Maki Sanbuichi, Takahito Higuchi and Yumiko Kurashige.)