LDP Lays Out Problem Areas for Social Media During Elections, with Election Law Set to Be Revised by March

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:15 JST, February 6, 2025

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party has proposed a set of topics to be discussed related to regulating social media during elections.

The proposals were presented at a meeting on Wednesday among seven ruling and opposition parties, which was aimed at addressing election issues.

These proposals mainly cover the handling of commercial acts disguised as election activities and clarifying the responsibilities of companies that operate social media platforms. The LDP also called for revising the law concerning information distribution platforms, among other measures.

The ruling and opposition parties have agreed to revise the Public Offices Election Law during the current Diet session, by adding a provision that would seek to increase integrity in election campaign posters.

Some people have made large profits by posting election-related content on social media. The LDP regards this as problematic. “[Such acts] have weakened the efficacy of deposit fees in preventing a glut of candidates, and there is a discrepancy with the principle that those who are involved in election campaign activities should work as volunteers,” the party stated in the set of topics.

In its call to revise the law on information platforms, the party also claimed that the law has no clause to immediately halt misinformation even when such information is spread on social media.

Other topics for discussion include a rise in content that does not abide by the Public Offices Election Law, which requires that contact information, such as an email address, be displayed. Also at question is how to respond to the difficultly of monitoring and correcting irregularities during elections.

Additionally, the ruling party urged measures against those who run in elections to support another candidate, rather than to try to get elected themselves. “It must be said that such candidacies are unfair and inappropriate,” the party said.

A draft of the revision to the Public Offices Election Law that would support integrity in election campaign posters was also presented at the meeting. It would require posters to clearly show candidates’ names, and introduce a fine of up to ¥1 million on those using the posters for commercial ads or promotions.

The ruling and opposition parties plan to submit a draft bill to revise the law to the Diet by the end of this month, and aim to pass the bill by March.

The new provision on posters would have a one-month notification period, and is expected to apply to the Tokyo metropolitan assembly election in June and the House of Councillors election this summer.