Japan to Ask GAFA to Join Team to Fight Fake News

Tokyo, Nov. 29 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese government panel Friday drafted a proposal to create a public-private team to fight fake news spreading on the internet to which U.S. information technology giants would be invited. The proposal calls for the establishment of the team including the Japanese government and social media service operators at home and abroad. Google LLC, Apple Inc., Facebook Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., collectively known as GAFA, would be asked to join. The proposal was included in a draft paper compiled at the day's meeting of the panel, which was created by the internal affairs ministry. Legal regulation of fake news poses difficult questions in terms of freedom of expression, so the panel aims to promote voluntary efforts by private-sector companies to prevent the spread of fake news. A final report on measures against fake news will be drawn up at the beginning of next year. The team will examine the actual situation regarding fake news in Japan. IT firms would be asked to disclose their standards for removing fake news through artificial intelligence or other technologies and set up systems to deal with complaints. Fake news is believed to have affected Britain's 2016 referendum on its exit from the European Union, or Brexit, and the 2016 U.S. presidential election, in which President Donald Trump was elected. Some countries have established or are preparing regulations to tackle the issue. END