Misinformation about the Japan earthquake is spreading online

Warning message after an earthquake strikes northern Japan, in Tokyo on April 20, 2026. (Photo by Philip Fung/AFP via Getty Images)

AFP via Getty Images

Misinformation about Japan’s recent earthquake has spread online, prompting Communications Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi to issue a warning.

He said: “I hope everyone will verify the information regarding natural disasters provided by the central and local governments and media institutions.”

The 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of the Tohoku region on April 20, and tremors were felt as far away as Tokyo, 330 miles to the south, triggering tsunami warnings — though those warnings were later downgraded.

However, earthquake and tsunami warnings sparked widespread misinformation online. Several YouTube videos showed footage of previous, more severe earthquakes, including the 2024 New Year’s Day Noto Peninsula earthquake and the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.

“Civilians screamed in videos posted on social media after entire homes were flattened during a 7.5 magnitude earthquake in Japan,” reads one description on YouTube.

Many other devices appear to have been created by artificial intelligence.

Other videos showed tsunami waves much higher than those that actually appeared — just two and a half feet high — either generated by artificial intelligence or recycled from previous earthquakes.

Many of these posters originated outside Japan, in South Asia, China, and Europe, and the posters used machine translation into Japanese.

Perhaps the most extreme example of misinformation last week was a series of claims that the earthquake had been artificially ignited. In fact, a report by Jiji Press found more than 6,000 examples on social media, where one post amassed 50,000 views.

Many of these sites linked the quake to the Chikyo deep-sea drilling ship operated by the Japan Marine-Earth Science and Technology Agency (JAMSTEC) – although it was nowhere near that at the time. JAMSTEC was forced to issue a statement indicating that it is absolutely impossible for drilling activity to cause an earthquake: “Drilling by a research vessel does not affect the movement of the entire Earth.”

“Artificial” earthquakes have been a popular topic in the past, with an X post in 2024 describing Japanese people as “sheep who see this as a coincidence”, after the Noto earthquake.

The post continued: “No wonder they do whatever they want with cancer drugs, antihypertensives, vaccines, artificial earthquakes, and chemo drugs (although I’m a bit skeptical). They treat us like foolish yellow monkeys.”

Two years ago, researchers examined such claims and found, not surprisingly, that they increase during times of seismic activity. But they said, “Conspiracy theorists have remained relatively active in spreading their theories even during quiet periods without earthquakes.”

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