Japan Fact-Checks, July 24: Japanese Drones Claimed by Young Indian

Fact-Checks at a Glance

We picked up the following fact-check relating to Japan from overseas media.

False: An Indian man hailed as a “drone scientist” claimed to have built 600 drones (India; fact-checked by Alt News on July 18, 2020)

Explanation: Young Indian scientist N. M. Prathap was reported by several media outlets to have built 600 drones at the age of 22. However, one of the drones in the photos accompanying the stories was made by ACSL, a company based in Japan. When a Reddit user contacted the company’s COO, Washiya Satoshi, he did not know Prathap and responded that the drone in the image was ACSL’s PF-1, a model manufactured in-house. Read the full article here (English).

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(Originally published in English by FactCheck Initiative Japan; edited by Nippon.com.)