Shortly after the Kansai region was rattled by a magnitude 6.1 earthquake on June 18, photos of the damage started popping up on social media. Tweets showed , and . These were shared quickly on the platform, as were countless other shots and videos from Osaka and the surrounding area.
In the hyper-speed media landscape of 2018, Twitter has become many people¡¯s go-to stop for updates on breaking news, whether from established outlets or regular people caught up in the situation. Many in Japan watched last week¡¯s earthquake unfold online, with many posts going viral. These included user @satnfc2, who claimed that , and @happyura12, who . Others alleged a train had derailed. Scattered across some sites were posts that accused non-Japanese residents of Osaka of looting convenience stores or poisoning the water supply.
These were all fake. Posts spreading misinformation following the earthquake became so problematic that the to beware of baseless information and avoid spreading it further. Other politicians shared similar messages, . And he should know ¡ª?his city¡¯s 2016 earthquake inspired along with the same xenophobic rumors that have cropped up in the past seven days.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.