Revealing Patterns in Artificial Earthquake Misinformation: Detecting Stubborn Conspiracy Adherents through Social Media Analysis in Japan

This study investigates conspiracy theories surrounding artificial earthquakes in Japan using social media data. We analyzed the volume of posts and conducted network and time series analyses, identifying distinct periods of increased activity corresponding to earthquake events. The results indicate that the clusters formed by conspiracy theorists and debunkers are clearly separated, and there are fluctuations in the number and structure of users participating in discussions based on major earthquake incidents. While significant earthquakes triggered increased activity in both clusters, conspiracy theorists remained relatively active in propagating their theories even during quiet periods without earthquakes. Furthermore, we observed that the movement between the conspiracy theorist and debunker clusters was minimal, with differences in the types of information sources referenced by each cluster. Future analysis may elucidate the role of YouTube as an information source and highlight differences in language usage between the two clusters.