High Court: Internet Libel Is a Crime

The Supreme Court has ruled that if anyone exaggerates information on the Internet to speak ill of others without grounds, that person must pay defamation damages.

This ruling will have a significant impact on personal comments made on the Internet or falsely exaggerating information on online boards or club websites.

Earlier, four people, including a venture firm president Nam (44), sued Chung (38) for defamation, claiming that Chung posted criticism of them on Internet message boards out of spite. The court announced yesterday that it confirmed its original decision on January 27, which ordered Chung to pay 5.5 million won in compensation.

“Information found on the Internet can easily be copied and processed to be sent somewhere else, thus, it is hard to determine the content’s veracity and source. Therefore, if a person abused information on Internet websites to hurt someone’s social reputation without checking the content’s authenticity, there is little grounds for that person to believe the information to be true,” according to the judge.

After losing money from stocks he bought in Nam’s company in January 2000 after false company announcement, Chung found ill comments directed toward Nam and others posted on a website and spread them among stock-related websites after exaggerating their content.

Chung added to the original message, which said Nam and his accomplice embezzled money from Internet stock offerings, that Nam and his associates were also criminal record-holding professional swindlers planning another deception with a newly established company.

Nam was found guilty for falsely announcing his company’s stock and committing fraud, but the court could not prove Nam was a professional swindler or had a criminal record.

Ji-Seong Jeon verso@donga.com