"Osaka Metropolis Plan" Referendum Exchange of Claims with Hashtag November 2, 5:48
In this referendum, which asked the pros and cons of the so-called "Osaka Metropolis Plan," people in both pros and cons spread their claims on Twitter using many "hashtags," and as the ballot counting date approached. There were many posts that criticized each other's claims as "hoaxes".
[Both sides spread their claims with "hashtags"]
"Hashtag" is a phrase used when spreading a specific exercise or promoting a product on Twitter.
Using Twitter's analysis service, we found more than 20 hashtags used to spread the pros and cons in this referendum.
The figure shows the main hashtags used by political parties and general users. Blue is the one used mainly for the purpose of encouraging approval, and red is the one calling for opposition.
[Which hashtag spread, for or against?
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When we examined the number of posts containing hashtags for and against each and their transitions, the number of posts containing "#Osaka City abolition opposition" increased rapidly from around October 24th.
In addition to the call to post all at once using this hashtag, it seems that it has spread widely, such as being posted to introduce the blog of a famous talent who opposes the abolition of Osaka City.
Comparing the total number of posts including the main hashtags for and against, the hashtags that appealed against them always exceeded the approval, and the difference tended to widen as the voting date approached.
[Days with 20,000 posts pointing out as "hoaxes"]
Looking at the words included in each of the posts for and against, the word "hoax" was often used.
Posts containing the word "hoax" related to the referendum were posted nearly 20,000 a day, including retweets, on many days.
Of these, the ones that were spreading were posts that pointed out different claims as "hoaxes."
For example, posts that blame the other party with the expression "hoax", such as posting "The hoaxes of the opposition are getting worse and worse" over disaster prevention measures, and posting "Please be careful about hoaxes" about resident services. Was seen more often as the ballot counting date approached.