Japan to regulate digital ads under law on IT giants

Japan Times -- Apr 28

Japan plans to regulate online advertising as early as next April under the law requiring information technology giants to be more transparent following recommendations contained in a final government report on digital marketing released Tuesday.

The move could be the world’s first legislation to regulate digital advertisements if measures aimed at securing transparency and fairness in the industry are added to the law that took effect in February.

The report compiled by the Digital Market Competition Council urged IT giants to create a plan to accept third-party assessment of the effectiveness of online advertising and disclose information on wrongdoings such as illegal charges levied on advertisers.

The legislation to protect advertisers will come as Japan steps up efforts to toughen regulations on industry giants such as Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. amid concerns that such companies are taking advantage of their market dominance to mistreat merchants who offer wares on their platforms.

The tech titans are known to exercise strong influence through their search and social networking services and see digital advertising as a major source of revenue.

In some cases, advertisers face abrupt changes to terms and conditions and are charged increased fees based on illicitly inflated clicks on online advertisements.

Apr 28 (ANNnewsCH) -

巨大IT企業を規制する法律の対象にインターネット広告も追加されることが決まりました。

 加藤官房長官:「政府が大枠を示し、事業者の創意工夫を生かすことにより、事業者と政府がそれぞれ役割を担う共同規制のアプローチが重要」

 巨大IT企業を規制する法律は出店者との取引条件の開示を義務付けたり、運営状況を年度ごとに政府に報告することを求めています。

 政府はこれまでオンラインモールとアプリストアを対象としてきましたが、デジタル市場への規制の在り方を検討する会議でインターネット広告も追加することを決定しました。

 シェアの大きいグーグルやヤフー、フェイスブックが対象になるとみられ、2022年度以降に適用される見通しです。