Dappi

Dappi (@dappi2019) was an anonymous Twitter account that conducted smear campaigns against progressive opposition parties in Japan between 2019 and 2021. During this period, the account posted highly biased tweets designed to discredit and undermine the reputation of the country's progressives while simultaneously praising the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and conservative opposition parties. While active on Twitter, Dappi made a number of false or defamatory claims aimed at swaying public opinion against progressive opposition parties, which led to the targeted individuals filing a lawsuit. In 2021, it was revealed that the account was operated by a company with close ties to the LDP.

Dappi (@dappi2019)
Type of site
Twitter account
Available inJapanese
OwnerEmployee of Ones Quest
URLtwitter.com/dappi2019
LaunchedJune 2019
Current statusInactive[lower-alpha 1]

Background

Dappi was active on Twitter between June 2019[2] and October 2021.[1] During this period, the account posted over 5,000 tweets,[3] mostly praising the LDP[4] and conservative opposition parties such as Nippon Ishin no Kai[5] and attacking progressive opposition parties such as the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP)[2][5][6][7] and the Japanese Communist Party (JCP)[5] through false claims and defamation.[8] The goal of the tweets was to sway public opinion against the progressives.[9] The account's profile read, "I love Japan. I hate the biased mass media."[10] Media outlets critical of the LDP were also targeted,[11] and Dappi had criticized what it perceived as biased reporting by The Asahi Shimbun and Mainichi Shimbun, among others.[12]

While operating anonymously, Dappi amassed around 176,000 followers as of November 2021.[10] The account was highly influential, attracting attention from members of the National Diet.[1]

Almost all tweets were posted during regular office hours, roughly between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. JST, and rarely on weekends, leading to speculation that the account was not an individual activity[3] and that there was a coordinated or organized effort behind it.[1]

In July 2020, the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office responded to a freedom of information request seeking government records related to Dappi by refusing to confirm or deny the existence of such records, citing concerns that doing so could potentially "impede the effective execution" of their duties and "pose a significant risk to national security". According to Newsweek, the wording of the response, which indirectly implied a connection between the account and the agency, further deepened suspicions surrounding Dappi.[13]

False claims and defamation

Dappi had been criticized for posting highly biased[3] video clips that were edited out of context,[5] creating a false impression or misrepresentation of opposition parties and media outlets:[11]

  • In October 2020, Dappi posted a tweet falsely claiming that an employee of the Ministry of Finance's Kinki Local Finance Bureau had committed suicide after House of Councillors members Hiroyuki Konishi and Hideya Sugio from the CDP "grilled him for an hour" over a public document tampering scandal involving the government's land sale to a nationalist school operator. No such meeting had taken place. Konishi and Sugio later filed a defamation lawsuit against the company behind Dappi (see § Revelation and aftermath).[10]
  • During a party leaders' debate in June 2021, Yukio Edano, the leader of the CDP, criticized Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga for diverting the discussion with personal memories of the 1964 Olympics. Dappi manipulated this criticism by tweeting a selectively edited video clip of the debate, in which the portion where Suga talked about the Olympics was completely removed. This manipulation falsely implied that Edano rejected discussions on COVID-19. BuzzFeed News conducted a fact-check and confirmed that Dappi's tweet was false.[14]

Revelation and aftermath

In 2021, Hiroyuki Konishi and Hideya Sugio, members of the CDP in the House of Councillors, filed lawsuits against Twitter and an Internet service provider at the Tokyo District Court, seeking the identity of the entity or individual responsible for Dappi's October 2020 tweet falsely accusing Konishi and Sugio of driving a Ministry of Finance employee to suicide.[15] In September, the court ruled in favor of the two lawmakers and ordered the disclosure of the requested information.[10]

The company behind the account was identified as Ones Quest (ワンズクエスト), an Internet company headquartered in Tokyo.[2] On October 6, they filed a lawsuit against Ones Quest at the Tokyo District Court, seeking damages for defamation.[6]

Ones Quest was engaged in business transactions with the LDP. According to a political income and expenditure report published by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the LDP's Tokyo metropolitan chapter made five payments totaling ¥4.04 million (US$29,100) to Ones Quest between March and August 2021. The report also shows the LDP chapter had expenditures of around ¥780,000 in 2020.[4] There is speculation that Dappi was part of the LDP's efforts to manipulate public opinion online.[10] The LDP has denied the allegations.[7]

Ones Quest later admitted that one of its employees was responsible for Dappi's tweets, but denied any institutional involvement in the account,[16] claiming the tweets were the private activities of an employee and unrelated to company operations.[5]

See also

Notes
  1. The account ceased activity after retweeting Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's tweet announcing the lifting of the COVID-19 state of emergency on October 1, 2021.[1]

References
  1. Hatachi, Kota (October 11, 2021). 野党批判を繰り返すアカウント「Dappi」の運営法人? 自民党支部や国会議員が取引、政治資金収支報告書などで明らかに [Operating entity of Dappi, the account repeatedly attacking the opposition: clear connections with LDP branches and members of the National Diet exposed in political funding reports]. BuzzFeed News (in Japanese). Retrieved June 7, 2023.
  2. 「Dappiのツイートは名誉毀損」立憲議員がウェブ関連会社提訴 [CDP members file lawsuit against web company over defamatory tweets by Dappi]. The Asahi Shimbun (in Japanese). October 13, 2021. Retrieved June 7, 2023.
  3. Schäfer, Fabian (January 15, 2022). "Japan's Shift to the Right: Computational Propaganda, Abe Shinzō's LDP, and Internet Right-Wingers (Netto Uyo)". The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. 20 (2). Retrieved June 7, 2023.
  4. "LDP chapter paid firm sued over 'defamatory' tweet". The Asahi Shimbun. November 24, 2022. Retrieved June 7, 2023.
  5. 「Dappi」裁判、被告企業「ツイートは従業員が私的に投稿」と主張 今回も出廷せず [Dappi trial: Defendant company claims "tweets were posted privately by an employee," fails to appear in court again]. Tokyo Shimbun (in Japanese). February 28, 2022. Retrieved June 7, 2023.
  6. 野党攻撃ツイッター「Dappi」が自民党と取引⁉ 正体はIT企業 ネット工作まん延か [Is the opposition-targeting Twitter account Dappi affiliated with the LDP? The truth revealed: It is an IT company involved in online manipulation]. Tokyo Shimbun (in Japanese). October 13, 2021. Retrieved June 7, 2023.
  7. 「ネットと政治」の闇 拡散する誹謗中傷やフェイク、私たちの対処法は? [The dark side of the Internet and politics: How do we deal with the spread of defamation and fake news?] (in Japanese). Tokyo Broadcasting System. October 19, 2021. Archived from the original on October 20, 2021. Retrieved June 7, 2023.
  8. Kota, Hatachi (October 14, 2021). 「ご質問のアカウントは全く知りません」自民・小渕氏がDappiとの関係否定。法人とは「HPメンテ以外お付き合いない」 [LDP's Kobuchi denies any connection with Dappi: "I have no knowledge of the account"]. BuzzFeed News (in Japanese). Retrieved June 8, 2023.
  9. "Japan to crack down on stealth marketing, target all media". The Asahi Shimbun. December 25, 2022. Retrieved June 4, 2023. ... anonymous posts on a Twitter account intended to sway public opinion, such as the Dappi account assailing opposition parties ...
  10. "The curious relationship between a popular pro-gov't Twitter account and Japan's LDP". The Mainichi. November 13, 2021. Retrieved June 7, 2023.
  11. Dappiのツイート、誰が投稿? 平日に作業集中、頻出単語は... [Dappi's tweets: who posted them?]. Asahi Shimbun (in Japanese). December 3, 2021. Retrieved June 4, 2023.
  12. Watanabe, Tsuyoshi (November 15, 2021). なぜ人々は野党・マスコミ批判のSNSアカウントに惹かれる? マスメディアに代わる"疑似環境"を求めるユーザーたち [Why are people drawn to opposition party and media–criticizing social media accounts? People seeking an alternative "virtual environment" in place of mainstream media]. Aera. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
  13. Fujisaki, Masato (October 16, 2021). 岸田首相はDappi疑惑を放置して衆院選を戦うのか [Will Prime Minister Kishida ignore the Dappi scandal and proceed to the Lower House election?]. Column. Newsweek Japan (in Japanese). Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  14. Hatachi, Kota (June 10, 2021). 党首討論「哀れな枝野」と拡散の動画は誤り。菅首相の「東京五輪の思い出」が編集され全カットに [Fake video clip circulating online with caption "Pathetic Edano": Prime Minister Suga's "memories of the Tokyo Olympics" completely edited out]. Fact Check. BuzzFeed News (in Japanese). Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  15. "Web firm asks court to dismiss CDP lawmakers' defamation case". The Asahi Shimbun. December 13, 2021. Retrieved June 7, 2023.
  16. Dappiの議員中傷 会社側「従業員が勝手に」 地裁口頭弁論 [Company claims "employees acted independently" in Dappi defamation case: District Court holds oral arguments]. Mainichi Shimbun (in Japanese). February 28, 2022.
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