Internet Boosts Takaichi

One of the main reasons for historical victory of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in the Lower House election is her campaign strategy taking advantage of social media to disseminate her positive impression to the voters. Followers for Takaichi increased more than any other party leaders during the campaign. It was possible that some internet users seem to have earned some money through the video. 

Yomiuri Shimbun reported that Takaichi increased her followers in X by 35 thousand during the campaign period, overwhelming other party leaders. It was February 1st when she most added her followers by 10,300. It was the day when she cancelled TV program of NHK, in which party leaders discussed campaign policies, arguing that she injured her arm when she shook hands with supporters in a local campaign rally. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) sent a deputy policy chief, Norihisa Tamura, to the program.

 

There rose a criticism that Takaichi escaped the discussion, being afraid of accusation on her of close relationship with former Unification Church, which had been reported by Weekly Bunshun a few days before. While X disseminated criticisms on Takaichi, there appeared posts supporting Takaichi of her determination to reach voters. Some posts in X for Takaichi achieved several millions of viewers.

 

With amendment of Public Offices Election Act in 2013, ban on internet election campaign was lifted, enabling eligible voters at age of 18 or older to participate in election campaign between official announcement and the day before voting. While campaigning through social media is allowed, disseminating information through email is prohibited, because private exchange of email is vulnerable for defamation with weaker checking by third-party.

 

Yomiuri reported that videos related to the Lower House election between January 27th and February 5th were viewed for 1.86 billion times. 80 percent of them was not recorded by candidates or parties but ordinary users of social media including YouTubers. Most of them were followers of Taiachi, introducing scenes of Takaichi refuting other party leaders or criticizing China. It is estimated that those interned users were seeking profit from accumulation of viewers.

 

Once a user of social media viewed video of Takaichi, related video will intensively be sent without any request, causing consecutive viewings of Takaichi. That could have contributed to the victory of her in the election. It is well-known that Shinji Ishimaru collected amazing number of votes in Tokyo gubernatorial election in 2024, taking advantage of internet. Takaichi’s surge in 2026 can be paralleled with “Ishimaru Phenomenon” two years ago.

 

However, distribution of candidates’ video can become a business. Although election campaign dependent on money is morally inappropriate, there is no viable legal restriction against that kind of buying votes. It was reported that there were hundreds of dangerous cases in which candidates were targeted to be injured. Lawmakers are discussing regulation on dissemination of false information through internet.

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