Yahoo News comments to require phone-linked ID

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:21 JST, October 19, 2022

Yahoo Japan Corp. will require users of the Yahoo News website to register their phone numbers from mid-November to allow them to comment on stories, the company said Tuesday. The move is aimed at preventing posts that could be considered libelous.

A Yahoo ID linked with the users’ cell phone number will be required when posting a comment to the news website. Since 2018, Yahoo has been taking other measures including suspending IDs used to repeatedly post inappropriate comments.

The latest measures have been introduced to prevent suspended users from posting further comments using alternative IDs that are not identifiable.