Online Defamation | Successful Defense Against a Custodial Sentence for a Client Charged With Online Defamation

The story of the client accused of online defamation via the ICT network is as follows.

The client had long been a fan of a well-known influencer.

That influencer was fairly famous, with hundreds of thousands of subscribers on social media.

When the influencer failed to keep a pledge made to celebrate reaching a subscriber milestone, the client was greatly disappointed and posted comments slandering the influencer several times on an online community.

The victim, who saw these comments, accused the client of online defamation via the ICT network, and the client, who was very surprised, became very afraid of being punished.

To prevent punishment for online defamation via the ICT network, the client sought out this firm, and a defense strategy against punishment was established.

Online defamation refers to content set out in the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection.

According to Paragraph 2, for defamation under the Network Act to be established, the fact that the defendant publicly disclosed must be false, and the defendant must recognize that the fact is false.

In addition, there must be a purpose of defaming another person.

Whether there is a purpose of defamation does not depend on whether the fact asserted by the perpetrator is false, and the purpose of defamation is not necessarily recognized merely because the disclosed fact is false, so it is necessary to establish evidence and a defense strategy to prove this and to respond to the case.

A purpose of defaming another person can also be at odds with that of being for the public interest.

Therefore, where the fact disclosed by the actor (the perpetrator) concerns the public interest, the purpose of defamation is, absent special circumstances, being denied.

For this reason, when arguing that there was no purpose of defamation in a defamation case, the following factors are considered.

The attorney with extensive experience handling cases of online defamation under the Network Act presented the following pleadings in order to defend the client against punishment.

With the assistance of an attorney experienced in handling online defamation cases, the client received a suspension of indictment conditioned on completing education to prevent reoffending with malicious comments.

The client expressed sincere gratitude to the attorney for achieving the defense against punishment.

According to the National Police Agency, in 2024 the number of 🔗cyber defamation and insult offenses was 29,258, a 229% increase from 2014, ten years earlier .

In this way, defamation offenses under the Network Act are increasing day by day through online communities and social media, and particular care is required when writing comments.

If you have been placed at risk of criminal punishment after thoughtlessly posting a comment while caught up in the mood, we hope you may consult this firm's 🔗criminal law specialist attorney, establish a defense strategy against punishment, and respond actively from the early stage.