Social Media, Reporting Cited as Fueling Terror

Echo chamber influence on social media and hostile reporting spotlighted in Abe assassination case as trial highlights premeditated terror intent

Tokyo, 4th December 2025 – Published as an article in the Japanese newspaper Sekai Nippo. Republished with permission. Translated from Japanese. Original article.

Will Eito Suzuki “assist” in achieving the goals of the “terrorism” committed by defendant Yamagami?

by Seisaku Morita (森田 清策)

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See also Murder of Abe Was Terrorism ‒ Trial Must Say So

The Incident Was a Premeditated Act of Terror

The trial of 45-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami (山上徹也), the defendant in the shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (安倍晋三), continues. At the 2^nd December hearing, prosecutors asked Yamagami why, on the day before the incident, he fired a homemade gun at a building containing facilities related to the Family Federation. He replied:

“I wanted to show that I felt anger toward the religious organization. In general society, people don’t think the connection between Abe and the organization is very deep. I thought that unless I demonstrated it, people wouldn’t understand.”

When asked by the court, “Were no politicians other than Abe potential targets?” he answered:

“I believed he was at the center of the relationship between the former Unification Church and politics, so I thought targeting any politician other than Abe would carry weaker meaning.”

These statements from Yamagami himself indicate that the incident was a premeditated act of terrorism.

Soon after the incident, Mitsuru Fukuda (福田充), professor at Nihon University’s College of Risk Management, published Politics and Violence – The Shinzo Abe Shooting Incident and Terrorism. Although terrorism is generally understood to be driven by political intention, Fukuda argues that “in the sense that it carries political impact, even if the perpetrator’s motive is not political but rooted in personal resentment,” it can still be called terrorism, and he classifies the shooting as a “VIP assassination terror incident”.

Terror gains political influence precisely because media and journalists focus their reporting on the perpetrator’s motives.

Experts Sound Warnings About “Examining” the Motive

Meanwhile, there is someone who rejects calling the incident terrorism: Eito Suzuki (鈴木エイト), who has long reported on the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (formerly the Unification Church) and now frequently appears in media coverage of the trial.

On 27^th November broadcast of ABEMA Prime, themed “Why Could No One Stop Yamagami?”, the host stated that examining Yamagami’s resentment toward the former Unification Church and the relationship between the former prime minister and the religious organization “could, depending on how it is done, end up simply broadcasting a terrorist’s claims.”

Suzuki, however, argued that labeling it terrorism too soon “creates a kind of mental shutdown. The moment it’s recognized as terrorism, people say, ‘Then we must not air what the terrorist is claiming.’” He insisted that society should “wait before calling it terrorism” and focus on examining the incident.

But experts differ. After the incident, international political scientist Yuichi Hosoya (細谷雄一) warned on Twitter (now X):

“In terrorism studies, the very attempt to try to understand the background of a terrorist’s actions is generally understood to assist the terrorist in achieving his objectives.” (April 18, 2023)

In other words, investigating the perpetrator’s motives risks aiding terrorism. Why, then, does Suzuki insist on such examination?

At the 25^th November hearing, when asked by the defense attorney, “Where did you get your information about the harm caused by the former Unification Church?” Yamagami replied:

“From the Internet and blogs written by former believers, but the site I looked at the most was The Almost Daily Cult Newspaper.”

Suzuki has long been active in criticizing the religious organization, primarily using that newspaper as his platform.

Suzuki openly acknowledges his influence on Yamagami. In his book “Who Was ‘Tetsuya Yamagami’?”, he writes:

“Considering the content of Yamagami’s messages before the incident, it is almost certain that he learned about the Abe-Unification Church relationship from my articles.”

He even posted a tweet on 12^th July 2022, asserting his own importance: “I again felt that I am the only one who can speak about the relationship between these two parties with clear, factual evidence.”

Resentment Fueled by Social Media

Putting all this together, it appears that information obtained through Suzuki’s articles and social media stoked Yamagami’s resentment toward the religious organization, linking it to the former prime minister and convincing him that terrorism was justified. This is a classic example of an “echo chamber” contributing to a heinous crime.

Suzuki says we should “wait” before calling the act terrorism, yet one week after the incident he posted the following tweet:

“What I am currently wary of is the possibility that this incident is a sort of theatrical crime involving society as a whole, unfolding exactly according to the scenario drawn by suspect Tetsuya Yamagami. If that is the case, then the next person to be made a ‘cast member’ could be me.”

Conducting a detailed examination of the incident may end up assisting Yamagami in achieving his terrorist objectives – completing the scenario he envisioned. (Honorifics omitted.) [“Honorifics omitted” is used to clarify why people are referred to without the honorific endings -san, -shi, etc.]

See also Upbringing No Excuse as Abe Assassin Gets Life

See also Yamagami Trial: Peril of Romanticizing Terror

See also Justice Rendered, Questions Remain in Abe Murder

See also Rising Religious Persecution in SKorea, Japan

See also Dissolution, System of Faith-Breaking, Lawsuits

See also: A Dissolution Built on Fabrications, Speculation

See also Murder of Abe Was Terrorism ‒ Trial Must Say So

See also: Far-Left Activism in American Higher Education

See also Expert: “Is Dissolution Framework Constitutional?”

Featured image above: Playing with fire. Illustration: Grok xAI, December 2025

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