{{Short description|LDP-funded smear campaign against Japan's progressives}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2023}}{{Infobox website | name = Dappi (@dappi2019) | type = Twitter account | language = Japanese | owner = Employee of Ones Quest | url = {{URL|https://twitter.com/dappi2019}} | launch_date = June 2019 | current_status = Inactive{{Efn|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.<ref name="buzzfeed" />}} }} '''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.
== Background == Dappi was active on Twitter between June 2019<ref name=":0" /> and October 2021.<ref name="buzzfeed" /> During this period, the account posted over 5,000 tweets,<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Schäfer |first=Fabian |date=2022-01-15 |title=Japan's Shift to the Right: Computational Propaganda, Abe Shinzō's LDP, and Internet Right-Wingers (''Netto Uyo'') |url=https://apjjf.org/2022/2/Schfer.html |journal=The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus |volume=20 |issue=2 |access-date=2023-06-07}}</ref> mostly praising the LDP<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |date=2022-11-24 |title=LDP chapter paid firm sued over 'defamatory' tweet |work=The Asahi Shimbun |url=https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14776254 |access-date=2023-06-07}}</ref> and conservative opposition parties such as Nippon Ishin no Kai<ref name="tokyo-np20220228" /> and attacking progressive opposition parties such as the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP)<ref name=":0">{{cite news |date=2021-10-13 |title= |script-title=ja:「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 |language=ja |trans-title=CDP members file lawsuit against web company over defamatory tweets by Dappi |newspaper=The Asahi Shimbun |url=https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASPBF6G9XPBFUTIL03Q.html |accessdate=2023-06-07}}</ref><ref name="tokyo-np20220228">{{cite news |date=2022-02-28 |title= |script-title=ja:「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 |language=ja |trans-title=Dappi trial: Defendant company claims "tweets were posted privately by an employee," fails to appear in court again |newspaper=Tokyo Shimbun |url=https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/162482 |access-date=2023-06-07}}</ref><ref name="tokyo-np">{{cite news |date=2021-10-13 |title= |script-title=ja: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 |language=ja |trans-title=Is the opposition-targeting Twitter account Dappi affiliated with the LDP? The truth revealed: It is an IT company involved in online manipulation |newspaper=Tokyo Shimbun |url=https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/136538 |accessdate=2023-06-07}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite news |date=2021-10-19 |title= |script-title=ja:「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? |language=ja |trans-title=The dark side of the Internet and politics: How do we deal with the spread of defamation and fake news? |publisher=Tokyo Broadcasting System |url=https://news.tbs.co.jp/newseye/tbs_newseye4385373.htm |accessdate=2023-06-07 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020033906/https://news.tbs.co.jp/newseye/tbs_newseye4385373.htm |archivedate=2021-10-20}}</ref> and the Japanese Communist Party (JCP)<ref name="tokyo-np20220228" /> through false claims and defamation.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kota |first=Hatachi |date=2021-10-14 |title= |script-title=ja:「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」 |language=ja |trans-title=LDP's Kobuchi denies any connection with Dappi: "I have no knowledge of the account" |work=BuzzFeed News |url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/jp/kotahatachi/dappi-4 |access-date=2023-06-08}}</ref> The goal of the tweets was to sway public opinion against the progressives.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-12-25 |title=Japan to crack down on stealth marketing, target all media |url=https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14801715 |access-date=2023-06-04 |website=The Asahi Shimbun |publisher= |language=en |quote=... anonymous posts on a Twitter account intended to sway public opinion, such as the Dappi account assailing opposition parties{{nbsp}}...}}</ref> The account's profile read, "I love Japan. I hate the biased mass media."<ref name="mainichi">{{cite news |date=2021-11-13 |title=The curious relationship between a popular pro-gov't Twitter account and Japan's LDP |language=en |work=The Mainichi |url=https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20211113/p2a/00m/0na/030000c |accessdate=2023-06-07}}</ref> Media outlets critical of the LDP were also targeted,<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |date=2021-12-03 |title= |script-title=ja:Dappiのツイート、誰が投稿? 平日に作業集中、頻出単語は... |trans-title=Dappi's tweets: who posted them? |url=https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASPD26CY9PC8ULEI004.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=2023-06-04 |website=Asahi Shimbun |language=ja}}</ref> and Dappi had criticized what it perceived as biased reporting by ''The Asahi Shimbun'' and ''Mainichi Shimbun'', among others.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Watanabe |first=Tsuyoshi |date=2021-11-15 |title= |script-title=ja: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 |trans-title=Why are people drawn to opposition party and media–criticizing social media accounts? People seeking an alternative "virtual environment" in place of mainstream media |url=https://dot.asahi.com/aera/2021110800061.html?page=1 |magazine=Aera |access-date=2023-06-08}}</ref>
While operating anonymously, Dappi amassed around 176,000 followers as of November 2021.<ref name="mainichi" /> The account was highly influential, attracting attention from members of the National Diet.<ref name="buzzfeed">{{cite news |author=Hatachi |first=Kota |date=2021-10-11 |title= |script-title=ja: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 |language=ja |trans-title=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 |newspaper=BuzzFeed News |url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/jp/kotahatachi/dappi-1 |accessdate=2023-06-07}}</ref>
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<ref name=":3" /> and that there was a coordinated or organized effort behind it.<ref name="buzzfeed" />
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.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Fujisaki |first=Masato |date=2021-10-16 |title= |script-title=ja:岸田首相はDappi疑惑を放置して衆院選を戦うのか |trans-title=Will Prime Minister Kishida ignore the Dappi scandal and proceed to the Lower House election? |url=https://www.newsweekjapan.jp/fujisaki/2021/10/dappi.php |department=Column |magazine=Newsweek Japan |language=ja |access-date=2023-06-06}}</ref>
The account was deleted by November 3, 2023.<ref>{{Cite news |title=デマ拡散『Dappi』アカウント消える 名誉毀損訴訟で敗訴、岸田首相は調査を否定 「最後まで卑怯」の声 |url=https://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/801646 |date=2023-11-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231106121749/https://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/801646 |archive-date=2023-11-06 |access-date=2023-11-06 |url-status=live |work=THE CHUNICHI SPORTS |publisher=Chunichi Shimbun Co., Ltd. |language=ja}}</ref>
== False claims and defamation == Dappi had been criticized for posting highly biased<ref name=":3" /> video clips that were edited out of context,<ref name="tokyo-np20220228" /> creating a false impression or misrepresentation of opposition parties and media outlets:<ref name=":4" /> * 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 below|{{Section link||Revelation and aftermath}}}}.<ref name="mainichi" /> * 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.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hatachi |first=Kota |date=2021-06-10 |title= |script-title=ja: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 |language=ja |trans-title=Fake video clip circulating online with caption "Pathetic Edano": Prime Minister Suga's "memories of the Tokyo Olympics" completely edited out |website=BuzzFeed News |department=Fact Check |url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/jp/kotahatachi/toshu-toron |access-date=2023-06-06}}</ref> == 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.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2021-12-13 |title=Web firm asks court to dismiss CDP lawmakers' defamation case |work=The Asahi Shimbun |url=https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14501152 |access-date=2023-06-07}}</ref> In September, the court ruled in favor of the two lawmakers and ordered the disclosure of the requested information.<ref name="mainichi" />
The company behind the account was identified as {{Nihongo|Ones Quest|ワンズクエスト}}, an Internet company headquartered in Tokyo.<ref name=":0" /> On October 6, they filed a lawsuit against Ones Quest at the Tokyo District Court, seeking damages for defamation.<ref name="tokyo-np" />
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 {{JPY|4.04 million}} ({{USD|29,100}}) to Ones Quest between March and August 2021. The report also shows the LDP chapter had expenditures of around {{JPY|780,000}} in 2020.<ref name=":2" /> There is speculation that Dappi was part of the LDP's efforts to manipulate public opinion online.<ref name="mainichi" /> The LDP has denied the allegations.<ref name=":1" />
Ones Quest later admitted that one of its employees was responsible for Dappi's tweets, but denied any institutional involvement in the account,<ref name="mainichi20220228">{{cite news |date=2022-02-28 |title= |script-title=ja:Dappiの議員中傷 会社側「従業員が勝手に」 地裁口頭弁論 |language=ja |trans-title=Company claims "employees acted independently" in Dappi defamation case: District Court holds oral arguments |newspaper=Mainichi Shimbun |url=https://mainichi.jp/articles/20220228/k00/00m/040/079000c |url-access=subscription}}</ref> claiming the tweets were the private activities of an employee and unrelated to company operations.<ref name="tokyo-np20220228" /> == See also ==
* Fake news website * Internet manipulation * Internet Research Agency * Japanese nationalism * {{Ill|Kawai election fraud scandal|lt=|ja|河井夫妻選挙違反事件}} * ''Netto-uyoku'' * Propaganda ** State-sponsored Internet propaganda * Troll farm
== Notes == {{Notelist}}
== References == {{reflist}}
Category:Japanese Internet celebrities Category:Unidentified people Category:Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) Category:Fake news websites Category:Propaganda organizations Category:Propaganda in Japan Category:Far-right politics in Japan Category:Year of birth unknown Category:X (social network) accounts