Summary

documented In the 2026 general election, Takaichi's campaign won with social-media content — a campaign video viewed 130 million times on YouTube — and a Nikkei investigation found that anonymous creators accounted for 55% of all election-related video views.¹ documented The internet has overtaken both newspapers and television as the primary source of political information, and among 20-somethings short-form and video social media outrank TV and newspapers as voting-decision sources.¹

The two-sided dynamic

documented Social platforms have opened political engagement to candidates without traditional capital — funding, name recognition, local support bases — through livestreamed speeches and real-time events, in a mode sometimes likened to idol fandom (oshikatsu).² documented The same openness makes the arena manipulable: slander, rumour, fake news and attention-seeking stunts distort the process, and concerns have arisen about PR firms and possible election-law violations.²

The documented disinformation layer

documented Viral social-media clips alleging "metal theft by foreigners" and migrants cutting railway cables accumulated roughly 4.3 million views by mid-September 2026; a Tokyo cybersecurity firm commissioned by the government to counter online disinformation ran a briefing for officials and media on fake news targeting foreign residents.³ documented The trend is described by researchers as a feedback loop stoking xenophobia and playing into far-right hands.³ contested The claim that disinformation caused Sanseito's electoral gains is an interpretation offered by analysts; the documented part is the reach of the content and the timing.

Where each side stands

inferred The right is stronger in the arena that now decides elections (short video, anonymous creators, SNS) while the left is stronger in the arena that is shrinking (broadsheet editorials). What would test this: a share-of-voice measure of political video by ideological direction across a full electoral cycle, which this bundle does not yet have.

Links

• Trust and Audience
• Online Mobilisation and Foreign Operations
• Distribution Strategy

Footnotes

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1. Reuters Institute DNR 2026 Japan — the 130m-view campaign video, the 55% anonymous-creator finding, internet overtaking press and TV, the age gradient. ↩↩

2. Nippon.com — social media as a route for candidates without traditional capital, the oshikatsu analogy, and the manipulation risks. ↩↩

3. SCMP (Sep 2026) — the "foreign metal theft" clips, 4.3m views, the government-commissioned counter-disinformation briefing, the feedback-loop characterisation. ↩↩