On May 5, Japan and the European Union (EU) held the EU-Japan Digital Partnership Council and issued a joint statement announcing close cooperation at a high level on such matters as strengthening oversight of platform operators, promoting the circulation of trustworthy data, protecting personal information, and safeguarding submarine cables.

Regarding regulation of platform operators, the statement emphasized the importance of creating a “safe online environment,” particularly the protection of minors online. In the EU, platform operators are already legally required to protect users and address illegal content under the Digital Services Act (2024). In Japan as well, legislation has come into force requiring the removal of information that infringes upon individual rights under the Information Distribution Platform Act (2025).

However, regulating harmful content alone cannot protect children’s rights, health, and safety. There is also growing criticism of the social media business model itself. Features such as infinite scrolling and round-the-clock notifications — designed to maximize user engagement and advertising revenue — are increasingly seen as addictive and harmful technologies that should be regulated.

Late last year, Australia banned social media use for those under 16, and Indonesia followed in March this year. Discussions on similar restrictions are also underway in France, Denmark, Norway, Türkiye, Greece, and Malaysia. In Japan as well, the number of children harmed through incidents related to social media has reached 1,566 (National Police Agency, 2025), while 7% of teenagers are reportedly suspected of pathological social media use.* Countermeasures are urgently needed.

Humanity has existed for six million years. It has been 200 years since the Industrial Revolution, 19 years since the first iPhone, 15 years since LINE launched its service, and only three and a half years since the release of ChatGPT. The speed of innovation has been extraordinarily rapid. Industrial structures have changed, lifestyles have changed, and even the relationship between society and the individual has changed. Those unable to adapt are regarded as socially maladjusted. Look around, and everyone is holding a smartphone and using social media. Someday, perhaps national regulations on social media will prove entirely ineffective, social media addiction will spread across the world, and humanity may even evolve with our necks tilted 15 degrees downward. In such a future, would those who did not become addicted be treated as sufferers of some kind of “social media adjustment disorder”? That is not a future I would like to see.

*Source: Survey on Internet/Game Use and Lifestyle Habits (2024), Kurihama Medical and Addiction Center, National Hospital Organization.
 

Takashi Mizukoshi, the President
This Week’s Focus, May 3 – May 14, 2026