Japan also strengthens TikTok regulations... LDP says "Administrative agency investigation if fake news is confirmed"

If Fake News Spreads, Administrative Agencies Will Investigate Directly
Service Suspension Also Considered...Effectively Checking China

Following the United States, Japan has also stepped up regulations targeting the Chinese video-sharing platform TikTok on social networking services (SNS). The regulatory measures are expected to include provisions allowing administrative agencies to directly investigate if fake news is produced or shared on TikTok. Amid concerns that China could access personal information through TikTok, this move is seen as a preemptive measure to block such access while aligning with the U.S. and Western countries' stance on containing China.

According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) on the 5th, the Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) "Rule Formation Strategy Parliamentary League" plans to revise legislation based on regulatory rules that would allow administrative agencies to directly investigate if fake news is produced or shared on SNS. The Rule Formation Strategy Parliamentary League is an internal LDP group established to prepare laws for economic security. They argue that users' personal information could be misused through TikTok, and that China might engage in public opinion warfare via TikTok posts.

The regulations the league is preparing include provisions for administrative agencies to impose administrative sanctions through on-site inspections if it is confirmed that personal information has been misused or fake news has been disseminated on SNS. On-site inspections mean that administrative officials visit business sites directly to conduct comprehensive investigations into ledgers, documents, facilities, and operational conditions. Both inside and outside Japan, this regulation is interpreted as a law targeting TikTok and a measure to bring TikTok under Japanese administrative control.

The league is also considering measures to suspend TikTok services entirely if the dissemination of fake news is confirmed. Norihiro Nakayama, the league's secretary-general, previously stated in a foreign media interview, "We will finalize a TikTok response plan, including service suspension, by mid-April," adding, "By showing the possibility of suspension, we can check the behavior of application users." Nikkei reported, "According to the Economic Security Promotion Act, provisions for suspending services of business operators are specified, so expanding this to include TikTok as a regulatory target is being considered."

The reason the Japanese government and the LDP are strengthening regulations appears largely aimed at containing China. Late last year, it was revealed that an employee of ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, accessed TikTok accounts of U.S. journalists covering TikTok without authorization and analyzed their location information, raising concerns about the misuse of personal information through TikTok. As a wave of TikTok bans swept across Western countries including the U.S., Japan is also beginning to take administrative measures in line with this trend.

Nikkei stated, "Under China's National Intelligence Law, the government has the authority to access data held by companies. There are significant concerns that users' personal information could be provided to the Chinese government and the Communist Party," adding, "Furthermore, TikTok could be used in 'cognitive warfare' to steer public opinion in favor of China."

In fact, voices expressing concerns about TikTok's harmfulness continue within Japanese political circles. The day before, the Japanese government officially responded to a question from the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party asking, "Is TikTok installed on the devices of high-ranking officials?" by stating that TikTok is not installed on the shared devices of the three political affairs officials (minister, deputy minister, and political secretary).

However, contrary to the regulatory tightening trend, concerns are growing about how to prevent economic losses caused by stricter regulations amid TikTok's widespread use in various fields such as marketing. Currently, the number of TikTok users in Japan reaches 17 million. Nikkei added, "TikTok is also widely used for corporate promotional activities," and warned, "Excessive regulation could impact economic activities."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.