Japanese police are taking technological measures to combat online criminal activity. The National Police Agency will be implementing artificial intelligence technology to identify social media posts that recruit individuals to commit crimes such as robbery and fraud. The initiative comes in response to the rise of “yami baito,” a concept that refers to shadowy illegal work. Recently, a group of Japanese men allegedly recruited individuals through social media to carry out a series of robberies, one of which resulted in a murder. The AI system will use natural language processing technology to not only search for specific keywords but also analyze the context of posts to identify harmful information.
The cyber patrol center, an independent organization, will conduct the online surveillance work on behalf of the police agency. The AI system will initially target platforms like Twitter (now called X) and YouTube for enhanced surveillance. The collected data will then be reported to the Internet Hotline Center, another external organization that can request the deletion of illegal or harmful posts from website operators and internet service providers.
This development follows the agency’s decision to expand the scope of surveillance and deletion requests made to online platforms. This decision was prompted by the fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022, where the alleged killer had utilized online information to construct a homemade gun. The agency aims to address the increase in crimes committed by individuals recruited online. Previously, surveillance and deletion requests were limited to categories such as drug trafficking, child pornography, and inducing suicide. However, seven new categories associated with crimes that could result in death have been added to the list.
Since February, the agency has made 148 deletion requests, targeting posts judged to contain harmful information. By the end of July, 77 of these posts were deleted, with a majority of them being linked to attempts to recruit individuals for murder and robbery.
This initiative highlights the Japanese police force’s efforts to utilize advanced technology to combat online criminal activities and protect the public from potential harm. The integration of artificial intelligence will improve the efficiency and accuracy of identifying and addressing posts soliciting illegal actions. As technology continues to evolve, law enforcement agencies worldwide are embracing AI and other technological advancements to better protect society.
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