TOKYO – A group of lawmakers in Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) plans to compile a proposal in April urging the government to ban social networking services such as TikTok if they are used for disinformation campaigns, an LDP lawmaker said on Monday.

Many lawmakers in the United States are calling on US President Joe Biden’s administration to ban the popular Chinese-owned social media app, alleging that it could be used for data collection and content censorship, and could harm children’s mental health.

“If it’s verified that an app has been intentionally used by a certain party of a certain country for their influence operations with malice... promptly halting the service should be considered,” the LDP’s Norihiro Nakayama told Reuters in an interview.

Mr Nakayama, a senior member of a ruling party lawmakers’ group looking into ways to enhance Japan’s economic security, said the group plans to compile the recommendation in April, adding that the proposal will not be targeting any particular platform. REUTERS