Japanese media reveal new allegations of the Gao City team's "smear campaign."

date
27/05/2026
After the team of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was exposed for hiring people to create videos to smear her election opponents, Takaichi faced questioning in parliament and insisted that she and her team were not involved in the matter. However, Japanese media once again revealed new information on the "smeargate" scandal on the 27th, stating that the video creators registered a large number of social media accounts using their phones and used artificial intelligence software to "mass produce" and spread the videos. According to the online version of Weekly Bunshun, one of the main figures in the "smeargate" scandal, video creator Ken Matsui, revealed that under the direction of Takaichi's secretary Masashi Kinoshita, he produced and spread a large number of videos smearing Takaichi's party's internal competitors and opposition party candidates. Matsui and the video team prepared about 20 smartphones, created 3 Google email accounts on each phone, and then spread the smear videos on various social media and video platforms.