South Korean court finds defendant guilty in virtual avatar insult case
A South Korean court has found an individual guilty of insulting members of the virtual K-pop group, marking the first time in legal history that verbal abuse toward virtual avatars was ruled equivalent to insulting real-life individuals, Kazinform News Agency correspondent reports.
PLAVE is a five-member (Ye-jun, Noah, Bambi, Eunho, and Hamin) virtual boy group that debuted in March 2023 and since has attracted attention for merging virtual technology with K-pop performances.
The case began in July 2024, when an unnamed defendant posted malicious comments and videos about the avatars and their own creators. According to Allkpop, Judge Jang Yoo Jin of the Uijeongbu District Court oversaw the case. The agency representing the group filed a lawsuit on behalf of the members, citing reputational harm.
As a result of the trial, the court ruled that the offender must pay 100,000 KRW (around $73 USD) in damages to each member. The judge explained that virtual avatars serve as a form of self-expression in the digital age.
“The use of avatars in the age of the metaverse may be considered another means for users of technology to express themselves and communicate with others. In that sense, insulting the avatars may be seen as equivalent to insulting the actual user behind the avatar,” the judge stated.
The court also rejected the defense’s argument that the comments were not directed at real individuals. The defendant claimed that the comments "were not directed at the real-life individuals behind the virtual characters, therefore, they cannot be considered accounts of offense."
The judge then determined that insulting remarks can still be deemed detrimental even if no real names are used, provided that the context allows the person to be identified.
This ruling sets a legal precedent in South Korea by acknowledging that verbal assaults on digital avatars can constitute human rights violations against real individuals.
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