There has been a surge in social media posts falsely claiming the suspect in the death of an 11-year-old boy in Kyoto Prefecture is a foreign national, despite police denying the claims.
The boy’s father has been arrested on suspicion of abandoning his child’s body in a wooded area of Nantan City.
Online speculation has falsely identified the suspect as a foreign national, with such claims spreading widely across platforms, including X, Threads and YouTube.
On X alone, related posts have been viewed around 35 million times. Similar claims have also appeared in responses generated by AI chatbots. Some posts have gone further, identifying people unconnected to the case as the suspect and sharing names and photos.
A Taiwanese media outlet also reported the allegation, citing a Japanese weekly magazine as its source in broadcasts and online videos on Wednesday. The magazine, however, published no such report. Police have reiterated that the suspect is not a foreign national.
The outlet later removed the content and issued an apology on Friday, saying it had published unverified claims circulating on Japanese social media.
The case highlights how unverified information and speculation can spread rapidly in high-profile cases, particularly online.
AloJapan.com