The poster for upcoming documentary film "Panke-ki wo dokumi suru," which roughly translates to "taste the pancakes for poison," is seen in this image provided by its production committee.

       TOKYO -- A movie distribution firm has submitted a complaint to Twitter, after the official account for a soon-to-be-released documentary film scrutinizing the politics and career of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga was temporarily frozen from June 24 to 25.

       The film, titled "Panke-ki wo dokumi suru," which roughly translates to "taste the pancakes for poison" -- a reference to Suga's favorite food and the practice of tasting food to make sure it's safe to eat -- is directed by Yuto Uchiyama and set to be released on July 30.

       Because the film covers Suga's politics, distributor Star Sands Inc. felt that if the account's temporary closure was politically motivated, it would be a huge problem -- leading them to send the complaint.

       According to the distributor, at around 7 a.m. on June 24, an employee realized the account had been frozen. At about 10:30 a.m., they sent an email to Twitter registering their objection to the decision. Just past 3 a.m. on the morning of June 25, Twitter responded, telling them the account "was frozen due to repeated violations of Twitter's rules." A detailed explanation was not provided.

       About five hours later, at 8 a.m., it was confirmed that the suspension of the account had been lifted. But while previous tweets and comments were still visible, its follower count had been reduced to zero. By 9 a.m., the count was restored.

       The film includes appearances from a number of politicians including House of Representatives lawmakers Shigeru Ishiba, who faced Suga in the leadership contest for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and Seiichiro Murakami, a former minister in charge of regulatory reform. Former vice education minister Kihei Maekawa, who butted heads with then-Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga over alleged favoritism in the establishment of a veterinary school by Kake Educational Institution, is another figure who appears to talk about the prime minister. The titular "pancakes" is a reference to an event where Suga and political journalists ate pancakes at an informal meeting.

       Star Sands launched the film's official Twitter account on May 21. Including the tweet announcing the account's restoration, it has posted 23 times. The tweets include messages to promote the film, such as: "The birth of an unprecedented political documentary exposing Japanese politics today with a cynical, sharp view that tracks down Prime Minister Suga's true nature." It also retweeted news articles on the prime minister that have been posted by newspapers.

       Twitter has given examples of when it may decide to freeze an account. Reasons include that an account is engaging in spam or is clearly fake, or that it presents a potential security risk to users. An account can also be frozen if there are suspicions an account has been hijacked or hacked or if Twitter has received reports of acts related to abuse that conflict with the platform's rules. But Star Sands says the account neither engaged in spam nor was hacked.

       On June 23, the day before the account was frozen, the film's first preview was held. A head of promotion for the film said, "Precisely because it was the period where we were getting responses back from people who had seen the premier and were giving their views on it, it was a real blow for promotion. I think the timing is suspicious."

       Mitsunobu Kawamura, president of Star Sands, stated through a press release: "We were completely shocked to find the official account had been frozen. If this was politically motivated, it is a huge issue."

       (Japanese original by Yukako Ono, Digital News Center)

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