A vehicle resting on the edge of a collapsed road in Tohoku town in Aomori Prefecture on Dec 9, 2025, following the 7.5 magnitude earthquake off northern Japan. - AFP
TOKYO: Disinformation regarding a powerful earthquake that mainly hit Aomori prefecture and other parts of Japan’s Tohoku north-eastern region on Monday (Dec 8) night is being spread on X and other social media platforms, including a claim that the earthquake was created artificially.
Fake videos, believed to have been created using generative artificial intelligence (AI), are going viral.
False information on social media during times of disasters has been a major social issue, including in the wake of a January 2024 earthquake that hit the Noto peninsula in central Japan.
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) and the Cabinet Office are calling on people not to spread such disinformation to avoid confusion.
Claims that “an artificial earthquake has occurred” and that the user “learnt about a government conspiracy” were posted on X, immediately after the earthquake late on Dec 8.
On microblogging app Threads, a prediction posted before the earthquake saying that there was a possibility of such a disaster on Dec 8 gained attention, with some users replying that the poster had a great ability.
“The government does not announce earthquake predictions, including the date of a mega quake,” the JMA said.
On video-sharing app TikTok, there were videos of past tsunamis that falsely claimed they were taken on Dec 8, and fake news videos that appeared to be made by generative AI.
The fake news videos stated that the epicentre of the quake was the northern area of Tokyo Bay and that a tsunami of record size struck Miyagi prefecture in north-eastern Japan.
TikTok’s operator is calling on users to verify information with reliable sources when viewing disaster-related posts.
Following the 2024 Noto peninsula earthquake, there was a fake plea for help on social media by a user posing as a victim.
In 2016, a social media post falsely claimed that a lion was released from a zoo following a massive quake in Kumamoto prefecture, south-western Japan- The Japan News/ANN
