Like in past disasters, misinformation spreads online in Aomori quake aftermath

A damaged concrete pillar supporting the Hachinohe Line in the city of Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, on Wednesday. False claims that a powerful earthquake in northern Japan was "human-caused," along with artificial intelligence-generated videos, are spreading rapidly across social media after the quake struck Aomori Prefecture on Monday evening. The earthquake registered an upper 6 on Japan's seismic intensity scale, prompting warnings from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) and the Cabinet Secretariat against the spread of unverified information that could hamper emergency response efforts. Misinformation circulated widely on platforms including X, echoing a pattern seen during previous disasters such as the Noto Peninsula earthquake in January 2024, when false rescue pleas and conspiracy theories also gained traction online. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.