Japan to Ramp Up Steps against Foreign Election Interference

   Tokyo, Aug. 2 (Jiji Press)--Japan plans to enhance its surveillance and regulatory measures to prevent foreign interference in elections.
   The Cabinet Secretariat's National Cybersecurity Office will play a key role in identifying tasks and problems that must be addressed to create a system for dealing with threats in an integrated manner.
   In last month's election for the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of parliament, foreign actors were suspected to be behind the spread of misinformation and disinformation on social media.
   Election interference "poses a risk to democracy, but there's no specific body to handle it," cybersecurity minister Masaaki Taira told a press conference Friday, stressing the need to create a body to oversee measures.
   Election interference is a type of influence campaign that involves information manipulation and propaganda aimed at influencing public opinion and policy decisions in other countries.

(2025/08/02-18:12)