Social Media and Elections: Outdated System / Political Group Chief: Anyone Can Form Political Organization with Defamatory Name; Election Commission Won’t Take Issue

The Yomiuri Shimbun

6:00 JST, May 6, 2025

This is the third installment in a series that examines the challenges faced by the nation’s election system, which has been criticized as outdated.

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Kei Kume, 51, president of Tokyo-based medical testing company PreventMedical Co., was stunned by video footage he saw in late June last year, when campaigning began for the Tokyo gubernatorial election. The footage, which his friend sent to him on Line, a free messaging app, showed a campaign car waiting at a traffic light and bearing the name of a political group called the “Association of the victims of PreventMedical’s Kei Kume.”

Kume subsequently learned that the group was fielding a candidate in the election — a woman whom he had never met.

To Kume’s further surprise, he received an election bulletin a few days later at home, which carried, along with the name of the group, a statement saying: “[PreventMedical is] involved in antisocial activities and financial misconduct. Stop paying for their shady ‘tests!’”

He had no idea what the words referred to.

The Tokyo election commission distributed about 8 million copies of the bulletin to households across Tokyo. Kume searched the internet and found images of the car and people commenting on the group’s name.

Many of his business partners and acquaintances asked Kume about what had happened to him and his company.

He asked the people who posted the images and comments to delete them, saying that PreventMedical had not been involved in any kind of wrongdoing. Nevertheless, one of his business partners subsequently stopped dealing with his firm, he said.

After losing the election, the candidate met with Kume’s lawyer and offered an apology. She said she was instructed to use his name by a person who had trouble with PreventMedical.

A male representative of the political group told The Yomiuri Shimbun that they could call their group whatever they like, as that falls within the scope of freedom of speech.

Kume’s outrage has not subsided. “I’m worried that I may suffer every time there’s an election,” he said. “Is it really acceptable to have an election system where you can legally defame others?”

The bulletin in question is still on the election commission’s website just as it was when Kume first saw it.

No power to reject names

The Political Funds Control Law requires political groups to register with the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry or prefectural election commissions upon establishment. The ministry and the commissions have no authority to investigate the groups during the registration process, making their review a mere formality.

As for naming practices, the law simply prohibits organizations from using a name that is the same as or similar to that of a publicly disclosed political party or political funding organization. If the name copies or resembles that of an organization that is not a political party or political funding organization, it will be accepted.

The internal ministry says that it does not accept names that violate public order and morality is such ways as defaming individuals or using obscene language. However, an official at an election administration commission said that since there is no law that enables election commissions to refuse to accept such names, it is difficult to do so.

Freedom of political activity

In 2018, the government’s inability to reject names was questioned in the Diet.

At the House of Representatives Committee on Internal Affairs and Communications that year, an opposition lawmaker criticized the ministry for accepting the registration of a political group called “the association aiming for a Japan without Koreans.”

“The name can be considered unjustly discriminatory,” the lawmaker said.

However, then Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Seiko Noda said that because the name could not be called a clear-cut case of discrimination, the ministry was unable to immediately recognize it as a violation of public order and morality.

“The question of what a political organization should be is an issue to be discussed by each party and faction, as it is fundamental to the freedom of political activity,” Noda said.

“If the government or local authorities fail to take a resolute attitude toward a discriminatory name that excludes a specific ethnic group, it will only serve to encourage discrimination,” said an official of the Japan NGO Network for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, an organization comprised of citizens groups and others.

In June last year, a political group filed a request with the Shimane prefectural election commission to change its name. Its new name contained the real name of a local government head in the prefecture and was intended to criticize the individual for “covering up a public official’s drunk driving.”

“I heard about another political group with a name that attacked a specific organization, and I thought I’d do something similar,” said Masaaki Moritani, 69, a representative of the political group.

That same month, Moritani ran for mayor under the new name in another prefecture. Although he lost the election, subscribers to his YouTube channel surged tenfold after he appeared on an online media program during the campaign period, he said.

“Anyone can form a political group, and even if the name defames others, the election commission will not take issue with it,” Moritani said. “More election candidates will emerge seeking attention through provocative political group names.”