“The scariest part is, even if I tell people it's a lie, I can't erase it because it's digital. It's still there. What was originally a joke became worldwide news so basically anyone can create fake news.”
Kojima related on his podcast the most serious fake‑news episode he has suffered: after the assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022, a user posted his picture as a joke portraying him as the assassin and it spread like wildfire; people with authority continued to spread it and public television in some countries even broadcast it as real. He called the situation ridiculous and said the scariest part is that, even if he says it is a lie, he cannot erase it because it is digital and it remains there. He warned that anyone can fabricate fake news, that those lies will be saved for centuries and may be taken as truth in the future, a theme he had already touched on in Metal Gear Solid 2 twenty years earlier.
“former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated. A user posted my picture as a joke, and it spread like wildfire. People with authority saw it and continued to spread it. […] public news in certain countries picked it up and broadcasted it. […] And those lies, the fake news, will be saved for centuries. And those will probably be considered the truth in the future, which is terrifying to think about. I touched on that in Metal Gear 2, but that was almost 20 years ago.”