Govt Asks Companies to Take Action Against Misinformation; Move Comes Ahead of Lower House Election

The Yomiuri Shimbun

6:00 JST, October 13, 2024

The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry on Friday asked a total of 14 major social media and artificial intelligence companies to take action against online misinformation ahead of the upcoming lower house election, it has been learned.

The ministry’s request follows concerns that sophisticated AI-generated videos and images could spread on the internet. It is believed to be the first time the ministry has made a request to counter election misinformation.

Campaigning for the House of Representatives election starts officially on Tuesday, and voting will take place on Oct. 27.

The ministry’s request covers five social media companies — such as Meta Platforms Inc., which manages Facebook; and X Corp., formerly Twitter Inc. — as well as nine AI-related companies, including OpenAI Inc., operator of the ChatGPT generative AI chatbot service.

With a series of major elections that includes the U.S. presidential election scheduled for this year, the spread of online misinformation is causing growing concern worldwide. In February, 20 companies, including Big Tech companies, agreed to cooperate in preventing the misuse of AI in elections this year.

The communications ministry required the 14 companies to take appropriate actions based on the February agreement and each company’s terms of service.

The ministry made similar requests to major social media operators earlier this year in the aftermath of the Noto Peninsula Earthquake and when fraud cases involving false advertisements that used the names and images of prominent figures came to light.