Regulating Messaging App Used For ‘Dark’ Part-time Jobs Difficult; Legislation on Regulation Would Restrict People’s Rights

By Sho Komine and Ryohei Isomura / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers

1:00 JST, November 3, 2024

The privacy function of the highly secure and confidential messaging app Signal that allows messages to be automatically deleted is being exploited by perpetrators of so-called “dark part-time jobs.” The ringleaders and actual perpetrators of armed robberies use the app to communicate, but regulating such communication is far from easy.

Many of the suspects arrested in connection with 17 of 21 robberies and other crimes committed mainly in the Kanto region since August have reportedly told police that Signal has been a commonly used tool. “After I applied for one of those high-paying part-time jobs, I was told to use Signal. I received instructions about what to do through the app,” one offender reportedly told investigators.

In 2022 and ’23, a string of robberies and other crimes were committed in Japan under the instructions of “Luffy,” a ringleader who went by various nicknames. Senior members of a fraud group based in the Philippines used Telegram, a messaging app like Signal, to pass instructions to the perpetrators who carried out these crimes.

Developed by a Russian technical expert, Telegram has been used by journalists, antigovernment activists and others in many nations who prize its high level of confidentiality. However, this app also has been exploited and used in crimes, so several countries have strengthened efforts to combat such misuse in recent years.

In August, French authorities arrested Telegram’s chief executive officer over suspected complicity in allowing fraud, drug deals and other crimes to occur on his app.

The Metropolitan Police Department have been able to successfully recover deleted messages linked to the Luffy cases. “A ringleader in the latest case apparently switched from Telegram to Signal because they were wary of being tracked by investigators,” a senior investigation official told The Yomiuri Shimbun.

End-to-end encryption

A U.S. nonprofit organization developed the Signal app, which has been downloaded more than 100 million times since its launch in 2014. Signal messages are end-to-end encrypted, so they cannot be read by third parties. Based on the sender’s settings, messages can be automatically deleted from anywhere between one second and four weeks after being sent.

Signal’s self-declared mission is to “protect free expression and enable secure global communication.” Ordinary citizens have even used Signal in nations such as Myanmar, where the military staged a coup-d’etat in 2021. The app has also been used in Ukraine, as Russia continues its aggression against that country.

However, it has been revealed that Signal has been used as a communication channel in Japan by perpetrators of investment fraud and drug trafficking. A group of masked robbers who stole dozens of luxury Rolex watches from a shop in Tokyo’s Ginza district in May 2023 also used it.

According to foreign media outlets, Russia, China and Iran have taken steps to block domestic access to Signal.

In a bid to prevent child sexual exploitation and other crimes, the European Union considered legislation that would obligate messaging app operators to monitor private messages and images. Signal opposed the introduction of such regulations. In May, Signal warned that it would leave the EU market if the proposed legislation was passed.

Japan’s Constitution guarantees freedom of expression and that the “secrecy of any means of communication” shall not be violated. The issue of monitoring content on these apps has been discussed in the Diet, but Meiji University Prof. Tetsuya Ishii believes any such legislation is unlikely to eventuate.

“Regulating communication apps would excessively restrict the rights of the people, so enacting such legislation would be difficult in Japan,” said Ishii, an expert in criminal law.