Kojima Productions protests the spread of fake news following the circulation of a false rumor regarding Hideo Kojima

Written by. Nick Mosier based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2022-07-11 10:39 JST)

Kojima Productions took to Twitter to protest the spread of fake news and false information on July 9 (JST). The unusual message came after false rumors involving studio head Hideo Kojima began circulating online.

Kojima Productions is a game development studio led by renowned game creator Hideo Kojima. While Kojima previously worked on titles such as the Metal Gear series while at Konami, he has since gone independent, releasing his team’s latest game Death Stranding in 2019.

On July 9, the studio’s English and Japanese official Twitter accounts both made unusual tweets condemning the spread of fake news, with the Japanese tweet expressing that it’s regrettable lies would be used to damage someone’s reputation.

The tweets are seen as a response to false information that began spreading about the game developer. Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated on July 8 (JST) with domestic and international media covering the incident extensively the following day. This included media outlets in Greece and a French politician spreading images of a completely unrelated Hideo Kojima as the perpetrator, a serious defamation of the game developer.

It appears that the false information started as a malicious post on an internet forum that was then treated as fact by some non-gaming media outlets. Furthermore, the English tweet also mentions that the studio will consider taking legal action in some cases, something that wasn’t included in the Japanese account’s message.