Arab News Japan 

TOKYO: Chinese technicians had access to stored messages and the personal information of more than 86 million Line users– a popular social networking application– in Japan.

According to official reports, names, phone numbers, e-mail addresses and identification data became available to four Chinese “engineers” working for a Chinese company contracted by Line to develop its software.

 Noboru Nakatani, chief trust and safety officer at Z Holdings, the parent company of Line, offered an apology to its users, acknowledging what had happened and pledging to take “strict countermeasures.”

 Reports say a Japanese company entrusted with monitoring inappropriate comments on Line’s bulletin boards was found to have outsourced the work to a Chinese firm based in Dalian.

 It was revealed that whenever the Chinese company received notifications from Japanese Line users about inappropriate posts, its employees would gain access to Japanese computers to monitor suspicious messages, pictures and videos.

 It is against the law in Japan to gain access to such information without consent.

 The matter goes beyond one of simple privacy as the Line app is used by both the central and local governments as a communication tool and to inform citizens of important information.

Line merged with Z Holdings Corp., operator of Yahoo Japan internet services on March 1 to expand its online service business and compete with US and Chinese tech giants.