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The Seoul High Court on Wednesday ordered Internet portals to pay W30 million (US$1=W1,042) in damages in a defamation suit brought by a man who said he became the subject of an online witch hunt. The court said web portals are media outlets and must delete online posts that can seriously damage a person¡¯s reputation. It ordered Naver to pay W10 million, Daum W7 million, Cyworld W8 million and Yahoo W5 million to the man identified as Kim (32).
¡ß Online witch hunt
Kim had filed for W500 million in compensation over a campaign that started after the suicide of his ex-girlfriend Seo in May 2005. Seo's mother then wrote on her daughter's Cyworld personal homepage that Kim broke up with her daughter when she was pregnant, adding Kim had reported her to police when she went to protest to him on her daughter's behalf. The mother said Seo was so devastated she took her own life. The pageview of Seo¡¯s homepage soared to 110,000, and visitors posted Kim's name, picture, job and contacts on the site. Online newspapers reported Seo's side of the story and portals copied the reports with changed titles.
The story spread like wildfire on the Internet and Kim was labeled a cad who dumped his pregnant girlfriend. On Daum's Agora forum, Kim's personal information was disclosed and 15,000 Internet users joined in a signature drive demanding a public apology from him. Due to the threats, Kim had to move and quit school and his job. Kim's mother was hospitalized with shock.
¡ß Portals are news media
In the initial suit, a district court awarded Kim W16 million (Naver W5 million, Daum W4 million, Cyworld W3 million, Yahoo W4 million), but the High Court increased the amount and firmly placed portals in the category of media outlets that report, edit and distribute news. The court pointed out that online posts include not only unedited news but also tagged messages and posts on online cafes, blogs and homepages. It said if a portal maintains posts capable of harming someone's reputation, it must be responsible for compensation. "Portals are not obliged immediately to delete such posts or block their search, but in special cases such as Kim's, when messages register high pageviews and other media reports take an interest in the matter, they should remove the writing even without a request from the victim,¡± it said in the ruling.
The court added portals ¡°earn huge profits from providing their services and should shoulder the cost necessary by common social standards to prevent damage to others. They could have deleted posts and blocked their search, which is not a difficult job, if they had been more attentive."
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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