Those who insult online risk a year in prison: the novelty in Japan

Prison for cyberbullies and online hate professionals: it happens in Japan, where a law entered into force on Thursday 7 July (approved in mid-June) which provides up to one year in prison for online insults. Those convicted of this crime can also be fined up to 300,000 yen, just over 2 thousand euros. Previous penalties included imprisonment for less than a month and a fine of just € 70.

It is a kind of social experiment, in some ways: the law will have to be reviewed in 3 years to understand if and how it influenced freedom of expression, a point on which opponents of the new provision insisted. The problem is that it is not clear what is meant by “online insult”: a few weeks ago, Seiho Cho, a criminal lawyer, explained it to CNN. According to The Vergethe law says that an insult must mean the humiliation of someone without attributing a specific fact to that person, as opposed to defamationwhich instead provides for the attribution of a specific (false) condition: “We need guidelines – said the expert – At the moment, if someone called the leader of Japan an idiot, then perhaps even that word could be classified as a stroke“But for the Japanese Minister of Justice, Yoshihisa Furukawa, there is no reason to worry about the consequences of the new provision: the new law will act as a deterrent for a crime, cyberbullying, which” must be severely addressed “.

But where does this tightening come from? From a very sad story, that of Hana Kimuraa well-known wrestler and television personality (he had participated in the reality show Terrace Housebroadcast on Netflix) who killed herself at just 22 years of age in 2020. Responsible for instigating the gesture, a group of people who targeted her in every way and on every social channel: the leader of this squad of haters he got away with a 70 euro fine for his gestures, his words and his insults to the young star. Since then, the girl’s mother, also a former professional wrestler, has launched a campaign through her non-profit Remember Hana to change the laws and tighten them against defamation and insult through digital channels. as happens in many countries of the world, including the United Kingdom. The prescription for this type of attitude also changes, passing from one to 3 years.