Malicious comments that slander and gossip others, rather than legitimate criticism, are not written by a cat accidentally pressing the keyboard or forced to write due to unavoidable circumstances.
Stars are also responding with “zero tolerance” to malicious posts that are done simply by individuals’ “malice”.
The Supreme Court’s 2nd Division (Chief Justice Min Yoo Sook) announced on Dec 28th that it had annulled the original trial that acquitted A, a man in his 40s who was put on trial on charges of insults. The case is then sent back to the Seoul Northern District Court.
A was accused of posting slanderous comments on an online article related to a movie starring Suzy in 2015, including “Just a bubble made by media play, she is simply a National Escort Girl“. A stated at the investigative agency that he changed Suzy’s nickname, “National Younger Sister”, after seeing the scandal between Suzy and a male celebrity.
EDAM Entertainment revealed malicious commenter B’s trial result on June 21st. B has left malicious comments on IU‘s posts dozens of times through the Internet since 2019. Both B’s contempt and online defamation charges were acknowledged. The court judged that B’s nature of crime was very bad, and sentenced him/her to 8 months in prison and 2 years of probation. B was also sentenced to 180 hours of community service and 40 hours of sexual violence treatment lectures. If B repeatedly commits criminal acts after the judgment, B may receive a more severe punishment.
In December, they stated, “We plan to take strict measures to make sure that those who take advantage of the fact that you can anonymously write on the bulletin boards of online communities and commit malicious acts against our artists will be subject to strong legal punishment. We want to make it clear that there will be no agreement or leniency in this process.“
On Dec 28th, labels under HYBE such as Big Hit Music (BTS), Pledis (SEVENTEEN), Source Music (LE SSERAFIM) and ADOR (NewJeans) also declared war against malicious comments through notices.
Source: Daum
