Kojima considers legal action over fake news about Shinzo Abe’s murder

Game developer Hideo Kojima is wrongly dismissed by a number of people on social media as the murderer of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Kojima Productions says it is considering legal action against spreaders of such false information.

Hideo Kojima became according to PC Gamer linked to Abe’s murder for the first time on 4chan, presumably as a ‘joke’. After that, among other things a French comedian and also a French politician the fake news. Not much later they deleted their tweets. Some news media also ran off with it. A Greek news channel for example, showed photos of Hideo Kojima during an item about Abe’s murder.

Kojima Productions is considering legal action against the fake news disseminators: “Kojima Productions strongly condemns the spread of fake news and rumors that convey false information. We will not tolerate such defamation and will consider legal action in some cases”.

On Friday, 67-year-old former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot during a campaign speech for the upcoming election. He died of his injuries not long after. The arrested 41-year-old Tetsuya Y. is suspected of being behind the murder. Abe ruled between 2006 and 2007, and between 2012 and 2020, making him Japan’s longest-serving prime minister.