古川デジタル相: The story behind this trend in Social Media today
06-10-2026
I’ll look up what the current social-media trend around “古川デジタル相” refers to.The trend centers on remarks Digital Minister Toshiharu Furukawa made at a press conference on October 6, 2026, amid a string of unauthorized-access incidents at private companies.Furukawa, a surgeon and lawyer who entered the cabinet for the first time in the second Takaichi reshuffle in mid-September, holds the digital portfolio along with roughly ten related roles, including AI strategy, science and technology, cyber security, and intellectual property. At the briefing he addressed leaks of personal data from firms such as Daiwa Securities. He said cyberattacks are not only a problem for companies and organizations, and that individual countermeasures help prevent harm. He urged the public to adopt the mindset that “you protect your own information yourself,” and specifically recommended not reusing passwords, enabling multi-factor authentication, and being wary of suspicious email and social-media messages. He noted that leaked data can include not only names and addresses but also passwords, credit-card details, and driver’s-license information.The phrase spread quickly because many readers took it as shifting responsibility onto ordinary people after data had already been taken from company servers. Critics argued that once a retailer or financial firm is breached, the affected customers cannot “protect” information that has already left the organization’s systems, and that the comment appeared to misunderstand the nature of recent incidents. Supporters treated it more narrowly as routine security advice layered on top of corporate and government duties.The remarks sit against a wider backdrop: a September disclosure that systems under the Digital Agency may have exposed personal data on roughly 246,000 national public servants, Furukawa’s own pledge after taking office to strengthen security, and ongoing government work on AI-related rules and regulation reform. The viral reaction is less about a new policy announcement than about the wording of the self-defense appeal in the middle of repeated private-sector breaches.