Natsuko Izena calls for measures against social media defamation and collects signatures in support of legislation

Natsuko Izena calls for measures against social media defamation and collects signatures in support of legislation

Natsuko Izena speaks at the National Diet about social media defamation (October 11, Tokyo)


October 13, 2021 Ryukyu Shimpo

 

Tokyo – On October 11, Natsuko Izena and her collaborators held a press conference at the National Diet and announced the launch of their website for victims of online defamation, Online Safety for Sisters. Izena, a columnist who lives her life in a wheelchair, held the conference in response to the continuing victimization of women on Twitter and other social media platforms. Their website collects online signatures calling on the Japanese government to pass a law requiring social media companies to have measures to prevent defamation.

 

Izena herself was a victim of online defamation after blogging in April about her own experience at a JR station in Kanagawa where she was refused use of an unmanned station because she requires the assistance of a station attendant.

 

Anonymous comments calling her a “nuisance to society” and a “waste of taxpayer money” poured in. She explained, “My life fell apart. It felt like I was being attacked by a mob.” Lies such as one that she was “abusing the helper system” spread. To date, she has received more than 45,000 defamatory comments on Twitter, and more than 8,000 on Yahoo.

 

Yumi Ishikawa, an actress and activist known for her work with the #KuToo movement, and Nahoko Hishiyama, a social activist, also participated in the press conference. Both women work to promote women’s rights, and have experienced similar social media defamation. Ishikawa says, “If we don’t speak up, nothing will change. It’s vital that we create an environment in which anyone can speak up.” The women are working to collect signatures and to train people to support women who have been victimized.

 

Izena called for the “creation of a society in which women can feel comfortable using social media.”

 

Their website is http://onlinesafetyforsisters.com/

 

(English translation by T&CT and Ellen Huntley)

 

Go to Japanese 


　


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