A group of lawmakers from Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party plans to propose a ban beginning next month, urging the government to prohibit the use of social networking services such as TikTok in disinformation.
Many lawmakers in the United States are urging the Biden administration to ban the popular Chinese-owned social media app, claiming it could be used for data collection, content censorship, and harm to children’s mental health.
“Making it clear that operations can be halted will help keep app operators in check as it means TikTok’s 17 million users (in Japan), for example, will lose their access. It will also lead to sense of security for users,” Nakayama said.
Nakayama, a senior member of a ruling party lawmakers’ group investigating ways to strengthen Japan’s economic security, stated that the proposal will not be aimed at any specific platform.
TikTok has been banned by a number of Western governments and institutions in recent weeks, including the UK parliament, the Dutch and Belgian governments, and the New Zealand parliament.
TikTok and other social networking services are not permitted on government devices that handle sensitive information in Japan.