Japan: Request for information by Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication submitted to LINE for allegedly illegal data transfer

On 19 March 2021, the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication (MIC) opened its investigation into LINE messaging app for an allegedly illegal data transfer on 17 March 2018. MIC alleges LINE has made personal user information stored on a server in Japan accessible to an affiliated company in China. For that reason, MIC now requests LINE to give background information on the matter and state whether the problem concerning the protection of personal data has been resolved. Furthermore, LINE is obliged to give a status update regarding its data protection system and implementation and must inform users about the breach. The deadline for the requested report by LINE is on 19 April 2021.