[One Year Since Sports Comments Ban] Up to 67.3 Billion KRW Penalty for Violating German Regulations

Germany imposes strict penalties on business operators
Japan monitors Olympic organizing committee, etc.
Trend toward sanctioning platform operators

Calls for punitive damages in Korea
"Criminal effects even if it goes to civil court"

Table tennis player Shin Yubin Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporters Seongpil Cho, Daehyun Kim] The Korea Table Tennis Association announced on the 6th that it will take a strong stance against malicious comments targeting national team players. It also stated that it may take legal action depending on the circumstances. This announcement came after sexually harassing and other personal attack posts against Shin Yubin (17), who became a star through the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, spread mainly on online communities.

During the 17 days of the Tokyo Olympics, the Table Tennis Association was the only organization to indicate it would respond to malicious comments against players at the association level. Although players from various sports such as soccer, baseball, and archery were targeted by malicious commenters, dealing with such comments was left solely to the individual athletes. A representative from the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee said, "There has been no discussion so far regarding responses to malicious comments," adding, "I understand that legal actions are mostly taken by players through their affiliated teams or agencies."

The Host Country Japan Was Different

The Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC), the host of the Tokyo Olympics, took a different approach by early on announcing legal measures to protect its athletes from malicious comments. Currently, they are monitoring and recording defamatory posts on social networking services (SNS) directed at athletes during the Olympics and are considering reporting excessively malicious cases to the police. There also appears to be an organized response at the team level. Tsuyoshi Fukui, the head of the Japanese delegation, stated, "Acts that insult the efforts athletes have made will never be tolerated."

Meanwhile, Japan's news distribution structure is similar to that of South Korea. Just as news is distributed through portal sites like Naver and Daum in South Korea, most news in Japan is consumed through 'Yahoo Japan.' However, there is a difference: South Korea abolished the comment policy for sports news in August last year, whereas Japan's policy is still in effect.

Like South Korea in the past, Japan also struggled with the problem of malicious comments generated from news distributed via portal sites. In response, the Japanese government enacted the 'Provider Liability Limitation Law' in 2002. This law requires portal sites responsible for news distribution to take responsibility for malicious comments. Unlike South Korea, which holds only the author accountable, this law also holds the operators responsible. Yahoo Japan deletes malicious comments and discloses author information upon victim requests in accordance with this law.

Sanctions on Platform Operators Are a Global Trend

Germany has a similar approach to Japan. Posts containing false information must be deleted by the operator within 24 hours. Violations can result in fines of up to 50 million euros (approximately 67.3 billion KRW). This structure means that companies could be severely impacted if they neglect unfounded malicious posts. This type of regulation is currently not found in South Korea.

There are countries like China that impose criminal liability similar to South Korea. Since 2013, China has applied criminal defamation laws to online defamation. According to Chinese criminal law, offenses such as insult and defamation can result in imprisonment of up to three years, criminal detention, public surveillance, or deprivation of political rights. However, critics argue that this approach is out of step with modern international judicial trends, which tend to shift criminal matters to civil domains and fines to administrative penalties.

The United States does not have separate criminal penalties such as cyber defamation laws. It operates under a civil liability system, where victims must prove specific damages themselves, making relief difficult. Consequently, the academic consensus is that most countries worldwide are moving toward legislation that sanctions platform operators rather than individual malicious commenters.

Need to Consider Punitive Damages Beyond Criminal Penalties

In South Korea, voices advocating for the introduction of punitive damages for malicious comments, rather than limiting responses to criminal penalties, are gaining traction. While general compensation provides monetary restitution based on the extent of damage, punitive damages are characterized by effects similar to criminal penalties concerning the malice and intent of the act. Professor Jaejin Lee of Hanyang University's Department of Media Communication said, "Even if handled civilly, it can have a criminal-like effect," adding, "It is necessary to consider punitive damages to prevent recurrence in malicious forms."

It has been one year since the abolition of comments on sports news. Although this measure was taken after professional volleyball player Go Yumin, who suffered from malicious comments, took her own life, the 'malicious comments that lead to death' have not disappeared. During the Tokyo Olympics, social harm was again revealed through SNS and online communities. Professor Lee said, "People have taken their own lives over a single malicious comment and suffered identity confusion or severe trauma," emphasizing, "It is time to discuss regulatory measures such as punitive damages for malicious expressions, not to prohibit expression itself."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.