Hudson Institute: US-Japan Cooperation in a Worldof Information Uncertainty Event Recap
Logan Rolleigh, Co-Director, Japan Affairs - 4/7/25
Image Source: Hudson Institute
Over the last twenty years, there has been a significant increase in the dissemination of information through technology-enabled platforms, such as YouTube, Facebook, and X. This surge has been accompanied by the rise of misinformation and disinformation. To discuss ways the Japanese and United States governments could collaborate to combat such malign efforts in a world of “information uncertainty,” the Hudson Institute hosted a panel of experts to address the matter and offer their insights. Senior Fellow Riley Walters was moderated and was joined by experts Daniel Byman, Senior Fellow at CSIS; Tatsuya Kurosaka, Project Associate Professor at Keio University; and John Fuisz, Founder and CEO of Veriphix Inc.
Japan and the US have been attacking uncertainty via two very different methods. The Japanese have approached the challenge in three ways that Tatsuya Kurosaka referred to as the “three pillars.” The first is to institutionalize the measures they are adopting, enabling them to cooperate more effectively with international partners. The second pillar is collaborating with international organizations to develop and make universally applicable standards. The final pillar is focused on individuals and aims to increase literacy and awareness about information uncertainty and the various forms it takes.
The US is taking a different approach. Fueled by a desire to remove censorship and reign in the power of governmental organizations and companies, they are taking aim at norms and institutions that have been developed over the last fifteen years. Challenging the future of governmental organizations like Voice of America and USAID – whose missions include combatting autocratic regimes’ misinformation abroad - have been some of these more visible measures.
Daniel Byman began the discussion by providing a useful recap of the first Trump administration, which marked the beginning of the modern debate on how to handle information uncertainty. The various stakeholders involved with this are not just the consumers and individual users of the information but also the corporations that collect and manage the data, as well as the relevant platforms. These two groups influence the government’s reactions to various issues, such as hate speech and incendiary content, which have elicited different responses between the first Trump and Biden administrations. An executive order that Trump signed on his first day in office spells it out clearly that they will inhibit federal employees and organizations from preventing or censoring the free speech of American citizens while also pursuing remedial actions for those who have done so in the past. In retrospect, the Biden administration survived a Supreme Court decision which rejected a case claiming that the administration illegally coerced social media platforms into taking down posts about Covid-19. The Biden administration focused on shaping the environment while the Trump administration is more inclined to let it flourish – seemingly without a leash.
After that, to shed further light on the Japanese government’s response to the issue, Tatsuya Kurosaka discussed the three previously mentioned pillars of Japanese government policies to combat information challenges. They have been particularly focused on the consumer of information – ordinary people – by utilizing techniques and software that enable digital signing of documents and publications to provide verification standards and, thereby, ensure the credibility of the media content provided to the consumer. To further combat misinformation and disinformation, the Japanese government has initiated an “Active Cyber Defense” (ACD) program, which aims to counter malign efforts originating from actors seeking to influence the opinions of Japanese citizens, including North Korea, China, and Russia more directly.
The last speaker, John Fuisz of Veriphix Inc., spoke about the main tactics, techniques, and procedures that the Chinese and Russians use to influence public opinion in other countries. He advocated redefining information uncertainty from the general term towards a more circumspect definition which shows the effects of antagonistic players who have the intent and do harm to individuals and groups. A major way to determine what works and what does not is to test and retest the cognitive behavior of a group of people. These tests can help to define what cognitive stability is and what indicates attacks on that stability.
Unfortunately for the United States and Japan, information uncertainty remains a persistent challenge that is unlikely to subside anytime soon. Like other challenges they face, it will require strong and concerted efforts to inform the public and increase their trust in the systems and institutions that they rely on for accurate information and the protection of their private data, such as on social media platforms. The panel held at the Hudson Institute is a relevant and key part of a broader discussion surrounding this topic and has helped to feed the policy debate occurring in the halls of Congress and the Diet alike.