Chairperson of Japan IT Giant LY Calls for Speeding Up Self-Regulation over Privacy Issues on Internet

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:51 JST, December 6, 2023

IT giant LY Corp. Chairperson Kentaro Kawabe stressed the need to accelerate the self-regulation of information on the internet to protect privacy in a meeting on Tuesday in Tokyo.

Kawabe was speaking during a general meeting of a suprapartisan group that is considering and proposing policies on how to ensure people’s privacy on the internet.

“As the distribution channels of information on the internet change and their influence expands, privacy violations are becoming a social problem,” Kawabe said. “Accelerating self-regulation is necessary.”

Kawabe was invited to Tuesday’s meeting, which focused on the efforts by The Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings and LY to promote respect for privacy. He explained the significance of self-regulation and disarray among internet companies on privacy issues.

The Yomiuri Shimbun and LY in October issued a joint statement stating that they would implement measures to prevent privacy violations in articles and social media, thereby improving the health of the internet space.

Kawabe also spoke about specific measures such as not publishing articles on Yahoo News’ home page if the content or news-gathering methods are deemed to be insufficient regarding privacy considerations.

Kawabe referred to a factor behind the increase in information that lacks privacy considerations, saying, “Such a trend is solid because that information is distributed in a way that involves advertising.”

As for the challenges involved in expanding self-regulation, he said, “There are considerable differences in how the issue is viewed between businesses that make money from private information and those that do not.”