Yahoo! Japan News reported that Foreign Minister Hayashi’s announcement on Wednesday that the Japanese government will provide disaster relief assistance worth a total of $2 million to the victims of the wildfires in Maui has caused a stir in cyberspace because many local netizens are complaining that disaster victims at home have been “neglected.” Numerous messages have been posted on….Read more

Nikkei reported that a senior executive of Warner Bros. Discovery apologized yesterday for the “Barbie” movie’s official social media account responding to an image depicting Barbie with a mushroom cloud bouffant with the comment “This Ken is a stylist.” James Gibbons, the company’s president and managing director for the Western Pacific region said, “We regret and apologize” for disregarding the….Read more

BY YUKANA INOUE, STAFF WRITER   While Meta’s new social media platform Threads reached over 100 million users globally in the first week of its launch, experts believe that it still hasn’t reached the critical mass needed to dethrone Twitter.   Netizens in Japan jumped onto the Threads bandwagon soon after its launch, but the honeymoon phase is already beginning to….Read more

BY KAZUAKI NAGATA, STAFF WRITER   Ranging from reading news and chatting with friends to promoting products and gathering information in times of disaster, Twitter has become an essential tool for many on a daily basis in Japan — making it one of the microblogging site’s most important markets.   But concerns are growing over the fate of the social media….Read more

Asahi reported that concerning Meta’s new social media platform called “Threads,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno said at a press briefing on Monday that the GOJ “has not considered using it at this point.” The paper said although local governments have been faced with issues disseminating disaster-related information on Twitter due to frequent changes in rules, the GOJ is planning to take….Read more

Mainichi, Sankei, and Nikkei reported that the GOJ adopted at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday a written statement saying that the Chinese-owned video sharing app TikTok may not be installed on the official smartphones of cabinet members. The paper noted that Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno said at a press briefing in February that TikTok is banned on the devices of….Read more

RYOHEI YASOSHIMA, Nikkei staff writer   TOKYO — Japan will not tax foreign technology companies after registering their overseas headquarters in the country, the National Tax Agency says, as Tokyo encourages compliance with registration to give consumers greater recourse over online disputes.   Foreign companies with continuous operations in Japan are required to register their overseas headquarters with authorities here. The Justice and Internal….Read more

Nikkei, Mainichi, and Sankei reported that Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno told the press on Monday that government employees are not permitted to use the Chinese video sharing app TikTok when they use government devices that handle classified information. The papers noted that the European Commission has also recently decided to ban the use of TikTok on government devices. According to….Read more

Nikkei reported that the GOJ is considering restricting the use of social media for PR activities by ministries and agencies in response to concerns raised within the LDP about the possible leakage of information to China. According to the paper, NISC, the Digital Agency, and METI have begun discussing the matter with the aim of reaching a conclusion by the….Read more

Several embassies and consulates in Japan have aroused controversy by posting messages espousing one-sided views and using extreme language — and even remarks aimed at Japan — in Japanese on Twitter.   China and Russia have been especially active on this platform to trumpet their own governments’ views and apparently attempt to sway public opinion on a range of issues.….Read more