Online Insults Can Send You To Jail
Monday, the Upper House passed a bill to try to tackle cyberbullying in Japan. Tougher penalties for online insults include jail time.
The debate about the balance between tougher regulations and freedom of expression, which is guaranteed by the Constitution, has been more intense since the May 2020 suicide of Hana Kimura, a 22 year old reality show star, after receiving hateful messages on social media.
The bill was passed after a supplementary provision, stipulating that a review will be conducted within three years of the enactment of the law to determine if it unfairly restricts free speech. "Insults" are distiguished from "defamation" in that insults demean someone without referring to a specific action. Both are punishable under this new law.
Currently, the penalty for insults is a fine of less than 10,000 yen or detention for less than 30 days. The new law raises the fine to up to 300,000 yen and a prison term of up to one year. The statute of limitations for insults will also be extended from one year to three years.
What do you think? Will this law prevent suicides? Does it infringe on free speech? Are there similar laws where you live? I think online bullying is a problem, especially for the youngest users of the internet. I'm concerned about whether this law is overly broad and will limit free speech in ways not intented. I also wonder if the penalty is enough to deter online insults. I'd like to know what you think.
5 comments:
I would hope there would be some kind of review panel that would decide if the message was an insult or not, cyber bullying is a problem the world over, a woman here ended her life a few years ago for the same reason. It seems to me a lot of bullying is made anonymously and there fore harder to track.
I was bullied a lot as a kid, and there was no such thing as the cyber aspect. I think it would be more useful to teach strategies for dealing with bullies.
I think it's important to penalize bullying, whether online or in person. I just hope this new laws will 'hit' in the right way. But then I don't think freedom of speech should mean people can be nasty to each other, either!
It is a really difficult area. I am very glad there was no social media when I was at school. I didn't realise at the time how valuable it was to be able to "switch off" from the school environment when I went home!
It's a difficult issue!
It is good that the problem has been highlighted, but I am not sure that the law will be easy to implement.
You don't need the internet to bully someone! Why not start in the classroom/workplace and at home, and root out face-to-face bullying?
Anti bullying workshops focus on finding GOOD things to say about other people (beautiful hair, punctual, loyal, a nice smile, mood-maker, strong....)
Why not make online kindness trendy?
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