The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry has requested 14 major social media and artificial intelligence companies to combat online misinformation ahead of the upcoming lower house election. This move comes in response to concerns about the potential spread of sophisticated AI-generated videos and images on the internet. It is believed to be the first time that the ministry has made such a request in order to address election misinformation.
Official campaigning for the House of Representatives election will begin on Tuesday, with voting scheduled for October 27th. The ministry’s request encompasses five social media companies, including Meta Platforms Inc., which manages facebook, and X Corp., formerly known as Twitter Inc. Additionally, nine AI-related companies, such as OpenAI Inc., operator of the ChatGPT generative AI chatbot service, are also included in this request.
The issue of online misinformation has become a global concern due to a series of major elections taking place this year, including the U.S. presidential election. In February, 20 companies, including Big Tech firms, agreed to collaborate in order to prevent AI misuse during elections.
In accordance with both the February agreement and each company’s terms of service, the communications ministry has required these 14 companies to take appropriate actions against online misinformation.
This is not the first time that similar requests have been made by the ministry. Earlier this year, they reached out to major social media operators following incidents such as fraud cases involving false advertisements using prominent figures’ names and images as well as after an earthquake occurred in Noto Peninsula.
there is growing recognition worldwide regarding online misinformation during elections. The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry’s recent request aims at addressing this issue ahead of Japan’s lower house election.