Mark Pack

Japan adds Twitter to the list of internet services banned in elections

By | Thu 23rd July 2009 - 8:48 am

Last year I blogged about the unusual attitude towards the internet in Japan:

It’s been a democracy for over 50 years.

60% of its population has access to high speed broadband.

More blogs are written in its native language than in any other language.

And the country is … Japan, where: “Once an official campaign has started, candidates are barred from updating their home pages, launching or amending blogs—podcasts are allowed because the law applies only to text or images—posting political statements or sending text messages to mobile phones. Additional regulations prohibit donors from using credit cards online to support candidates, effectively preventing online fundraising.”

It is then at least in keeping with Japanese electoral traditional for Twitter to now be banned too:

Japan’s cabinet has placed a ban on candidates using Twitter for the country’s upcoming House of Representatives election campaign.

Citing the Public Offices Election Law, the government has deemed Twitter content to fall under the “literature and images” clause within the law. (The Blog Herald. Hat-tip: er… Twitter.)

Last year there were some signs in local elections of the public being willing to go around this law, with YouTube being used to cover political speeches and Wikipedia being updated during election campaigns. Although the police sent out warnings, no arrests were made. So perhaps the Twitter ban in practice will simply further encourage people to ignore the law.

Read more by or more about or .
This entry was posted in Online politics.
Advert

One Comment

Post a Comment

Lib Dem Voice welcomes comments from everyone but we ask you to be polite, to be on topic and to be who you say you are. You can read our comments policy in full here. Please respect it and all readers of the site.

To have your photo next to your comment please signup your email address with Gravatar.

Your email is never published. Required fields are marked *

*
*
Please complete the name of this site, Liberal Democrat ...?

Advert

Recent Comments

  • Rose Runswick
    Thank you for saying this, international law is our best hope for a fairer and more peaceful world, I worry the memory of why it came about in the first place i...
  • Tristan Ward
    Sanctions should absolutely continue, but the idea that Britain should not rearm is to repeat the mistakes of the 1930s. Appeasement is not an option....
  • Katharine Pindar
    Paul Barker: you are right, Paul, in the wider world we do seem largely invisible. That was for instance clear in today's Laura Kuennsberg show when, you could ...
  • tom arms
    The first known use of the phrase "May you live in interesting times" was towards the end of the 19th century when Joseph Chamberlain used it in several speech...
  • Andy Daer
    John is, of course, right to remind us all of the need to uphold international law. Today we've seen Trump congratulate the man he had previously distanced h...