(ISSUED ON AUGUST 14, 2020)
Welcome to FIJ’s English FactChecks Report vol.13. This weekly report comes in two parts, consisting of Fact-checks at a glance and Announcements & News. Note that we have renewed some of the contents of this report as of this issue.
Misinformation that originated overseas and spreads in Japan and/or abroad
This section contains fact-checks of misinformation that originated overseas and was spread in Japan, as well as misinformation about Japan that originated overseas and was spread abroad.
①NewsMeter | India (August 09, 2020)
False: Prime Minister Narendra Modi follows a Japanese woman on Twitter
Explanation: Information that the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, follows the Twitter account of a random Japanese woman. However, it turns out that the account followed by the Prime Minister does not belong to the woman in the image but to Diptarup Chakraborti, a person of some standing working in an IT company. Chakraborti claims his account had been hacked and his profile edited to appear as if it belonged to a random Japanese woman. Thus, the claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi follows the Twitter account of some random Japanese woman is false. Read the full article here.
②InFact | Japan (August 12, 2020)
False: Tokyo infection figures can’t exceed 300 people per day due to the use of fax machines
Explanation: There were widespread reports on Chinese social media that the number of new infections per day in Tokyo was limited to 300 due to the use of fax machines. However, the news program cited as a source of this information only reported the problem of the usage of fax machines in collecting patient information, which is time consumption and more difficult but there was no mention of a limit in ability to process infection figures. This information was deemed as incorrect as well because the number of cases in Tokyo have, at times, already exceeded 300. Read the full article here.
Check out the IFCN’s #CoronaVirusFacts Alliance database of 5,000+ fact-checks from more than 70 countries on the novel coronavirus. Other themes of factcheck can be found on each organization’s website.
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Hope you stay well,
FIJ English team.
