Information Disclosure to Law Enforcement Agencies

Considering the seriousness of the social impact of the recent increase in the number of victims of investment and romance scams using social media, LY Corporation (the “Company”) has held a series of discussions¹ with the relevant ministries and agencies on how evidence should be collected by the law enforcement agencies.

The Company has also received the opinions from the panel of experts² and has confirmed with the relevant ministries and agencies that certain registration information³ of accounts not linked to individual communications can be disclosed for inquiries based on the Code of Criminal Procedure if the necessity and validity for an investigation is recognized.⁴ Therefore, the specific cases to which this applies have been added to “Responding to Law Enforcement Agencies” which summarizes the Company’s response policy.

LY Corporation’s Response Policy on Information Disclosure Requests from Law Enforcement Agencies, Etc.

LY Corporation establishes policies to protect the privacy of its users and, in principle, does not provide information of its users to third parties without the users’ consent.

However, as an exception, to fulfill its social responsibility as a service provider, the Company discloses information upon request from law enforcement agencies only if it is deemed appropriate under relevant laws and regulations and falls under any of the following circumstances where disclosure to law enforcement agencies is considered appropriate.

(i) When the request is based on warrants that have been issued by judges
(ii) When the request is on a case for which the necessity defense is applicable
(iii) When the request is based on legal grounds, such as an investigation-related inquiry

Please note that the Company’s approach remains unchanged that user information described below will not be disclosed even when the information is within the scope of necessity and validity of disclosure, unless the request is as a result of the execution of a warrant.

• Information subject to the protection of the secrecy of communications and information that may be subject to such protection
• Information that LY Corporation regards to be highly private (e.g. special care-required personal information, credit card information, information that covers a wide range of time periods and items, etc.)
• Information of a person other than the suspect (except when an emergency request of disclosure for the protection of human life or body is received, or when it is determined that the person in question has given consent)

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LY Corporation’s Basic Approach

The Company believes that responding to requests to apprehend suspects of crimes using services provided by LY Corporation, to mitigate damages of such crimes, save human lives, and prevent crime is the responsibility of an internet service provider that serves a large number of people. At the same time, excessive information disclosure requests from law enforcement agencies to internet service providers may threaten the privacy of their users.

In order to strictly protect the privacy of the users and to fulfill its social responsibility as a service provider, the Company believes that it is essential to provide transparency in how often it receives and responds to requests from law enforcement agencies by publishing transparency reports.
The Company plans to update the transparency report on a regular basis so that users can continue using its services with confidence.

The Company will continue to work with relevant organizations to eliminate fraudulent activities that abuse “LINE,” and will promote efforts to ensure that its users can use the services safely and securely.

• 1 In the Council of Ministers on Countermeasures Against Crime held on June 18, 2024, the “Comprehensive Measures to Protect Citizens from Fraud” section 4 (1) (ii) (c) states: “Furthermore, to expedite criminal investigations, discussions will be held among relevant agencies to clarify the approach to methods of evidence collection by investigative agencies from social media providers, etc., offering closed chat services (including the information that can be obtained through inquiries based on the Code of Criminal Procedure). Additionally, the National Police Agency will request social media providers to respond based on this clarification.”
• 2 Expert Panel on Handling Requests for Information Disclosure From Investigative Agencies and Ensuring Their Transparency (Chairperson: Masahide Maeda, Professor Emeritus, Tokyo Metropolitan University)
• 3 Disclosed information is compiled in Transparency Report/For Law Enforcement Agencies
• 4 Crimes with significant social impact, such as investment and romance scams using social media, in which there is a fact that the suspect is misusing an account of the Company’s services, and the Company has determined that there is a high need to disclose the relevant information