Japan's National Police Agency has published a draft that would widen the list of "illegal information" its commissioned Internet Hotline Center can use when asking providers and website administrators to block or remove online content. Among the additions visible in the draft materials are impersonation-type fake investment ads, solicitations that improperly ask users to enter identification codes, content that facilitates unauthorized access, ads from unregistered money lenders, and solicitations to transfer savings passbooks. The public-comment window opened on July 3 and closes on July 16.
The Internet Hotline Center already takes reports from internet users on illegal information, information closely related to important crimes, and suicide-inducement information. Under its operating guidelines, it can pass material to police and ask site managers and other operators to delete it. The operative change in this draft is scope: the comparison table expands the categories that count as illegal information for removal requests.
What the draft adds
The draft says the target set should be illegal information whose circulation online has become a social problem and whose illegality the center can judge "appropriately and smoothly". For moderation and compliance teams, that is the real policy signal. The NPA is not proposing a catch-all for every disputed post online. It is broadening the list around scam and unauthorized-access content that it believes can be triaged consistently.
| Bucket | Proposed addition |
|---|---|
| Special fraud-related information | Soliciting or inducing the transfer of savings passbooks |
| Special fraud-related information | Posting impersonation-type fake investment advertisements |
| Unauthorized-access-related information | Improperly requesting the input of identification codes |
| Unauthorized-access-related information | Facilitating unauthorized access |
| Unregistered lending-related information | Advertisements by unregistered money lenders |
Two of the proposed additions speak directly to impersonation-based investment scams and prompts that illicitly request identification codes. The same draft also brings in content that helps unauthorized access and ads by unregistered lenders, widening the overlap between scam moderation and cyber-abuse handling. If adopted, that would give providers and website administrators a broader set of IHC-backed removal requests to work from.
Nothing is final yet. The notice is a voluntary public-comment process, not a procedure under the Administrative Procedure Act, and comments are due by 23:59 on July 16. For companies that process user reports or IHC removal requests, the near-term job is practical: check whether current queues for fake investment ads, identification-code solicitations and unauthorized-access content line up with the categories in the draft.