A South Korean appeals court has upheld a fine against a YouTuber who was charged with defaming another content creator during a livestream that had only one viewer. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SUWON, Dec. 4 (Korea Bizwire) – A South Korean appeals court has upheld a fine against a YouTuber who was charged with defaming another content creator during a livestream that had only one viewer, establishing that public exposure can exist even with minimal viewership.
The Suwon High Court’s Criminal Division 2-1 rejected an appeal on December 3 from the defendant, a 37-year-old content creator, maintaining the lower court’s fine of 1 million won for defamation charges.
The case stems from an August 2022 incident where the defendant made derogatory comments about another YouTuber’s physical appearance during a livestream from his residence in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province. Despite having just one viewer at the time, the court determined that the broadcast met the legal threshold for public exposure.
The defendant argued in the initial trial that he lacked intentional malice and that the single-viewer audience failed to constitute public exposure. However, the court disagreed, ruling that the accessibility of the content to an unspecified number of potential viewers satisfied the legal requirement for public exposure, regardless of the actual viewer count.
“Even with only one viewer excluding the victim, the broadcast was accessible to anyone, which sufficiently establishes public exposure,” the lower court stated in its verdict. The court also noted that the defendant’s comments “constituted expressions of abstract judgment and contempt that would lower the victim’s social standing,” regardless of whether they were made in response to viewer comments.
The appeals court supported this interpretation, noting that the original sentence appropriately considered various factors, including the defendant’s previous conviction for a similar offense, his continued denial of wrongdoing, and the absence of forgiveness from the victim.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
