Ishiba vows steps against crime-linked social media posts

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Tuesday indicated a policy to strengthen the government’s responses to social media posts that lead to crimes, in connection with a recent series of robbery cases in the Tokyo metropolitan area.
“We’d like to strengthen our system to understand what information is out there on social media,” Ishiba told reporters at the Prime Minister’s Office.
As some suspects in the robbery cases in question were recruited through social media, the prime minister said, “The government hopes to beef up the system to call on people not to take such an offer.” He also indicated plans to improve the police’s consultation system.
Furthermore, Ishiba said the government will consider supporting patrol activities by volunteers under a supplementary budget.
At a news conference Tuesday, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kazuhiko Aoki said the prime minister on the same day instructed government staff to expand the subsidies for local revitalization so as to help step up community-based safety activities.
On Saturday’s incident in which a man threw apparent firebombs in front of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s headquarters in Tokyo and rammed his car into a barricade in front of the Prime Minister’s Office, Ishiba said that the government will take all possible measures to make sure that Sunday’s Lower House election will be held in an orderly manner.
Earlier on Tuesday, Ishiba met with National Police Agency Commissioner General Yasuhiro Tsuyuki to discuss related responses.