[Breaking] Identity Disclosure of Child Support Defaulters: 'Bad Fathers' Operator and Informant Convicted

The operator of the 'Badfathers' website, which receives and publicly discloses personal information of parents who do not pay child support after divorce, and a whistleblower who reported the non-payment of child support by a divorced spouse resulting in the information being posted on Badfathers, have been found guilty.

On the 4th, the Supreme Court's 2nd Division (Presiding Justice Cheon Dae-yeop) held a sentencing hearing for Gu Bon-chang (61), the operator of Badfathers, and whistleblower A, who were indicted for defamation under the Information and Communications Network Act. The court upheld the lower court's ruling, suspending Gu’s sentence with a fine of 1 million KRW and sentencing A to a fine of 700,000 KRW.

Previously, in the first trial conducted as a citizen participation trial, the court acquitted Gu. It also acquitted A of the charge related to reporting the non-payment of child support by a divorced spouse to Badfathers, which led to the posting of that information. However, the court found A guilty of defamation for personally posting on Instagram insulting remarks about their spouse along with the fact that their spouse’s personal information was disclosed on Badfathers, and sentenced A to a fine of 500,000 KRW.

On the other hand, the second trial overturned the first trial’s verdict, ruling that Badfathers’ act of publicly disclosing victims’ faces based solely on whistleblowers’ reports without sufficient fact-checking was excessive. It recognized the defendants’ indirect intent to defame and the purpose of disparagement, finding both Gu’s site postings and A’s whistleblowing acts guilty. However, the court suspended Gu’s sentence with a fine of 1 million KRW and sentenced A to a fine of 700,000 KRW.

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