Shinzo Abe killing: Hideo Kojima threatens to sue over false posts

A legendary video game developer has threatened in order to sue over scam posts portraying him as Shinzo Abe’s killer.

Metallic Gear creator Hideo Kojima was connected to the particular shooting of Japan’s former prime minister within pictures on web site 4chan.

The pictures were shared with a French politician and reportedly broadcast by Greek and Iranian news shops.

Kojima Productions mentioned it “strongly condemns the spread associated with fake news and rumours that express false information”.

The 4chan post used a photo of Kojima and falsely classed him as a “left-wing extremist” with a criminal record.

It also integrated a picture of him wearing a type of Ushanka, or fur hat, worn by soldiers in communist Russia, and another associated with him standing next to a picture of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara.

Screenshots on social media showed Damien Rieu, a People from france politician associated with the nation’s nationalist movement, got tweeted out pictures of Kojima along with text translated in order to: “The far-left kills”.

He has since removed his tweet and released an apology to Kojima, saying he “naively took a joke for information” and “was wrong not to check out before sharing”.

In response, the game director’s organization tweeted a statement warning it would think about legal action within the spread of false information.

Mister Abe died at the end of last week after he had been shot with a homemade gun.

Police state the suspect, named as Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, has accepted the killing.

By Shayan Sardarizadeh, BBC Disinformation journalist

In the instant aftermath of a tragedy, details are often murky and emotions run high.

In the absence of reliable information, deceptive claims fill the gap, and Mr Abe’s assassination was not an exception.

False states that the assassination had been staged, that Mr Abe wasn’t bleeding in pictures, which the man arrested had not been the real suspect, which he was Korean or Chinese, had been posted on Japanese social media.

But in other areas of the world, primary was on Mister Kojima and an enjoy on a racist trope about Asians.

Probably the biggest hub associated with internet subculture, 4chan has been responsible for many false claims plus memes.

That isn’t the first time Mr Kojima has been the target of online misinformation. Content falsely accusing him of “aborting and mummifying a baby” went viral just a couple weeks ago in the context of child killingilligal baby killing debate in the US.

As always, the best practice is to wait for reliable information from relevant professionals and trusted information sources, and avoid sharing unverified claims, regardless of how viral they may be.

Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, whom served for a calendar year in 2006 however from 2012 in order to 2020, before resigning due to health factors.

Abe later uncovered that he had experienced a relapse of ulcerative colitis, an intestinal disease.

Whilst he was in office, he pushed a lot more assertive policies upon defence and foreign policy and desired to amend Japan’s pacifist post-war constitution.

On Japanese social media, the hashtag “We would like democracy, not violence” was trending all through Friday, with many customers expressing their horror and disgust more than Mr Abe’s eliminating.

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