Why do Japan’s Line users worry when data is stored in South Korea but not in the US, with companies like Google and Apple?

Millions of users of the messaging app – including government departments – were shocked to learn their data was stored on servers in South Korea and had been accessed by engineers in Shanghai

While Line has promised to transfer the data, experts say Japanese must wake up to the fact that there are risks to storing data abroad

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Published: 5:25pm, 24 Mar 2021Updated: 8:34pm, 1 Apr 2021

Corrected [5:42pm, 31 Mar, 2021]

[5:42pm, 31 Mar, 2021]
This piece originally said Line stored data in China, a reference that was removed after a notification from the company saying this was not the case.

Like millions of other Japanese users of the Line messaging app, university student Emi Izawa was shocked at revelations this week that her personal data was being stored on servers in South Korea and accessed by engineers in China, even though it is common for tech companies to outsource data management operations abroad.

Izawa, 18, uses Line to message friends but also its e-payments service to buy items and get discount coupons. She also gets updates on Line from her home prefecture government on natural disasters and other local news.

As news emerged in the past week that engineers at a Shanghai affiliate of Line’s parent, Softbank’s Z Holdings, were able to access user data, Izawa said she checked her LinePay account balance and found nothing amiss.

“But that is not the point,” she said. “The information there – which includes photos of me and my friends and family – is meant to be kept safe and secret.”

Tokyo-headquartered Line Corp stressed it had not flouted any of the Japanese government’s legal or regulatory requirements and there had been no leak of users’ information. CEO Takeshi Idezawa stated in a press conference this week that the use of foreign contractors and the storage of data overseas were carried out “appropriately”.