Digital Sex Crime | Defending a 70 Million Won Digital Sex Crime Damages Claim by a Well-Known Idol

The civil litigation attorney reviewed the contents of the complaint for damages arising from a digital sex crime that the client had received in order to respond to the client's case.

The client operated a channel on YouTube and, regarding broadcast videos featuring idol group A, the plaintiff in this case, edited and posted them by combining titles and audio evoking sexual meanings.

In addition, the client repeatedly posted sexually harassing comments on the YouTube channel operated by idol group A.

Most of the videos the client posted were ones that aroused sexual shame or revulsion, such as by emphasizing the movement of the chest area while attaching titles with sexual meanings.

In addition, the comments the client posted mainly consisted of content that aroused sexual shame or revulsion, such as "I want to get idol group A pregnant."

Accordingly, the plaintiff argued that the videos, comments, and the like posted by the client, viewed in light of the sound common sense and customs of the community, exceeded what could be tolerated and constituted unlawful acts infringing the plaintiff's personality rights.

Based on the above, the plaintiff filed a complaint seeking a judgment ordering payment of 100 million won in consolation money, on the ground that the plaintiff had suffered considerable mental distress due to the client's digital sex crime.

A victim of a digital sex crime may, separately from a criminal complaint, file a civil lawsuit for damages to obtain compensation for mental and material harm.

A digital sex crime is a serious tort that entails invasion of the victim's privacy, defamation, and mental suffering, so the victim may claim damages from the perpetrator under tort liability in the Civil Act.

This proceeds separately from the criminal process and is a civil procedure aimed at recovery of harm (monetary compensation).

The civil-specialist attorney first had the client acknowledge the digital sex crime and show a sincere, repentant attitude.

The client conveyed a deep apology to the plaintiff's side and emphasized that they would endeavor to compensate for the harm the plaintiff had suffered.

The civil-specialist attorney then made clear that the client's digital sex crime conduct in this case was not for the purpose of generating profit and that the client had not gained any profit whatsoever.

In addition, the attorney also emphasized that the videos and comments posted by the client consisted of videos and content readily found on SNS and were not original creations of the client.

The client also requested a reduction of the consolation money on the ground that, before being subject to the claim for damages for the digital sex crime, they had already voluntarily deleted all of the relevant accounts.

The civil law specialist attorney requested a reduction of the consolation money, citing the following precedent.

The attorney was well aware that the client's digital sex crime could never be excused, but appealed that, as the client was in reality struggling to make a living, this should at least be considered as an incidental circumstance.