How does Japan’s new cyberbullying law affect you?
Executive Summary: What is the impact on your team?
If your organisation operates in Japan, you must be mindful of the increased punishment and, more importantly, the normative shifts regarding cyberbullying. While cyberbullying and defamation rules are not new, the changes in cultural norms and renewed interest in counter-cyberbullying may increase lawsuits and prosecutions. These new laws apply to individuals on work trips to Japan who may not get enough, or updated, Japanese-cultural education. The expanded statute of limitations from 1 year to 3 years means individuals must also be mindful of the ramifications of their content for a longer period. Organisations working in Japan should update their training mindful of the recent changes.
What is the new law?
On June 13, 2022, the Japanese Diet passed revisions to the Penal Code of Japan to increase the punishment for cyberbullying. Under the new law, individuals found guilty of “insulting another in public to damage their social reputation without mentioning specific facts or actions” could be subject to “imprisonment for up to one year" and "a fine of up to 300,000 yen (about $2,200).” Previously, penalties could include imprisonment for less than 30 days or a fine of less than 10,000 yen (about $74). Additionally, the statute of limitations expands from 1 year to 3 years.
How did we get here?
In 2020, a famous Japanese professional wrestler and reality TV star Hana Kimura died in a suspected suicide, sparking a national debate about the societal impact of cyberbullying. Following her death, the Tokyo Metropolitan police arrested a man in his 20s in connection with her death. While the police found over 300 comments from 200 accounts were hateful, they deemed his messages were egregious. Although the suspect had deleted his comments, the police identified him as the original poster via screenshots on Kimura’s phone. The man admitted to a public insult charge and was fined $81. The public’s reaction to this punishment was that it was too light, which has been one of the driving forces behind the new legislation.
In 2021, the Japanese Diet passed a revised law, reducing the barriers to identifying individuals who make inflammatory or hateful cyber posts. Under this new law, cyberbullying victims can now go through a single court, rather than the previous two courts (one against social media companies and another against internet service providers) to obtain personally-identifying information about the online harassers. This expanded the disclosure of personal information from names and postal addresses to login records. In 2019, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications’ consultation centre for individuals experiencing hurtful messages received around 5,000 requests, a 4x increase from 2010.
Under the Japanese penal code, Article 230 governs “defamation”, and Article 231 governs “insults”. Article 230 defines defamation as “a person who defames another by alleging facts in public, shall, regardless of whether such facts are true or false.” Under Article 230-2, there could be no criminal liability for defamation if the statements were matters of public interest, made solely for the benefit of the public, and made with the reasonable expectation of truth. Article 231 defines insults provisions as “a person who insults another in public, even if it does not allege facts, shall be punished by penal detention or a petty fine.” There is no truth exception for the “insults provision,” and it may be easier to convict via defamation. Organisations should also be mindful that Articles 230 and 231 apply only to individual-to-individual cases, while Article 233 governs an individual commenting on a business or organisation.