Japan has launched a review of social media and the internet after an apparent serial killer contacted victims who had posted thoughts of suicide. Placing restrictions on Twitter are not absolute, but «likely to be considered,» a Cabinet member said.
After Aiko Tamura, a 23-year-old Tokyo resident, posted on Twitter her desire to commit suicide, her brother frantically began looking for clues to her whereabouts after she went missing Oct. 21.
His efforts triggered a police raid that uncovered a horrifying scene in a studio apartment in central Japan: nine severed heads, along with about 240 human bones packed in boxes filled with cat litter in an apparent attempt to conceal the stench.
As authorities continue their investigation — the remains of Tamura and eight other victims have been identified — many in Japan are asking how social media was used to reach the victims and whether it can unwittingly bolster destructive or suicidal thoughts.
On Oct. 31, Japanese police arrested 27-year-old Takahiro Shiraishi of Zama City, in Kanagawa Prefecture near Tokyo. He faces one charge of disposing of dead bodies, but more charges are expected.
“This is a case where cries for help were exploited, and [victims] were manipulatively drawn out,” Japan’s chief Cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, said at a news conference Friday. “The tactics used were extremely vile.”
Suga said a multi-agency committee to propose prevention plans to avoid a repeat of the Zama case has been launched. The group will review how to deal with suicide postings on the internet and how to better support troubled youths. It aims to wrap up its findings by the end of the year.
Placing regulations on Twitter is not absolute but is “likely to be considered,” Suga said. Twitter did not return requests for comment Friday on his remarks.
Along with Tamura, the remains of seven other women were discovered, authorities said. One victim was male. The oldest was 26, the youngest 15. Police estimated that two of the victims had been dismembered only a week or two before Shiraishi’s arrest. The rest had been dead for weeks or months.
The case continues to unfold as San Francisco-based Twitter announced new global guidelines concerning posts on self-destructive behavior. On Nov. 3, the company unveiled rules saying Twitter users “may not promote or encourage suicide or self-harm.”
“We did not rewrite the section on suicide and self harm because of this case, but we would like to avoid these types of cases from happening,” Kaori Saito, a Twitter spokeswoman in Japan, said two days before Suga’s comments at Friday’s news conference.
