Did the Japan Meteorological Agency announce on TV that the May 5, 2023, Ishikawa (Noto Peninsula) earthquake and the March 11, 2011, Great East Japan (3.11) earthquake were artificial earthquakes? No, that's not true: The news report was edited to look like an artificial earthquake was the cause of major earthquakes that hit Japan in recent years.
The claim appeared on a TikTok video (archived here) where it was published on May 6, 2023, under the title "Noto Peninsula artificial earthquake - Explanation of differences in waveforms." Translated from Japanese into English by Lead Stories staff, this is how the video started:
Similar to seismic waveform data detected when nuclear tests occurred in the past...
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Mon Jul 17 14:04:02 2023 UTC)
The same video of the Japan Meteorological Agency appeared on Twitter alongside the video which says that the March 11, 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake was an artificial earthquake.
(Source: Twitter screenshot taken on Mon Jul 17 14:24:12 2023 UTC)
Here is what the video of the Japan Meteorological Agency, translated from Japanese to English by Lead Stories staff, actually said:
Around 10:30 am on January 6, 2016, the Japan Meteorological Agency detected an earthquake centered near North Korea...
...it is similar to the waveform data of the earthquake when North Korea allegedly conducted a nuclear test in the past....
