Japan Halts Govt Use Of Messaging App ‘Line’ After Revelations Of Chinese Technicians Accessing Personal Data

Citing data security concerns, Prime Minister (PM) Yoshihide Sug-led Japanese Government and all its affiliated agencies and departments have stopped the use of the Chinese messaging platform 'Line', reports Economic Times.

This comes following the revelation that the personal data of the users of the said application had been accessed by technicians in China. These include names and surnames, email addresses, phone numbers, as well as the content of correspondence and photos, stored on servers in Japan.

The said data is said to have been available to the employees of a Chinese outsourcing company since 2018. The outsourcing company was responsible for Line's system administration.

Kabo stated that the employees of the administration of the PM Suga and the Government are prohibited from using the platform to transmit classified information.

Nation's Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Ryota Takeda has ordered local administrations to also stop collecting questionnaires and opinions, as well as providing services and receiving all types of applications from the population using Line which has a user base of 86 million who make it one of the most popular messaging service in all of Japan.