The Japanese government has once again issued administrative guidance to Line Yahoo, the operator of the Line application. This time, it has raised concerns about the photo exposure error that surfaced last year.
According to the Yomiuri Shimbun and others, the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications delivered an administrative guidance document to Takeshi Idezawa, the president of Line Yahoo, urging thorough measures to prevent recurrence related to the 'secrecy of communications' as stipulated in the Telecommunications Business Act.
In November last year, a problem occurred in which photos from other users were displayed related to the 'album' feature that preserves photos on Line. It is estimated that about 135,000 users experienced this error. The error is reported to have occurred due to an issue with a program updating the photo processing system.
Line Yahoo noted, 'We will take the administrative guidance seriously and thoroughly implement measures to prevent recurrence and damage expansion.'
Line is the most widely used messaging app in Japan. As of September last year, the number of Line users in Japan was reported to be 97 million.
Earlier, the Japanese government issued administrative guidance to Line Yahoo regarding a personal information leakage incident in March and April of last year, which included a request to 'reconsider the equity relationship between Naver and Line Yahoo.' Line is a messenger app launched in Japan by Naver in June 2011. After the Japanese government's administrative guidance, a controversy arose domestically, questioning whether it was an attempt to seize management rights.
In 2019, Naver decided to merge Line with Yahoo Japan, operated by SoftBank, after discussions, and established A Holdings in 2021. The largest shareholder of Line Yahoo, which operates the messaging service 'Line' and the search service 'Yahoo Japan,' holds 64.4% of the equity. The equity of A Holdings is held 50% each by Naver and SoftBank.