Threatening A VTuber Can Be Criminally Charged Now!

The Internet can be a rough place to be in at times, especially if you’re a streamer. Such an incident happened with a live streamer, or a VTuber, to be specific.

For those unaware, VTubers are streamers who use 2D or 3DCG model characters during their streams and videos.

Recently, an anonymous female VTuber with over a million subscribers went to court over a tweet directed at her. In a comment from November 2021, someone commented “I’m going to XXXXX you next month” along with a knife emoji.

Clearly, the user meant to use it as a loose threat towards the VTuber, for some reason. This tweet led to a court case that the VTuber, to whom the comment was directed filed.

The woman alleged that the comment made her extremely anxious and afraid to go outside and suffered great emotional stress.

On December 14, Judge Kuroki of the Tokyo District Court accepted the woman’s arguments and ruled the decision in favor, saying that the message in question “can be considered a notification of harm to the life or body of the subject ”.

The Judge also said that it was evident that the VTuber’s personal rights had been violated by the publications. Furthermore, the court did not accept “messages only affect the VTuber, but not the person behind it” as a counter-argument.

This is a major ruling when for VTubers, as people cannot direct hate and threats towards them as it is punishable by law now.

In regard to this incident, COVER CORP. and ANYCOLOR, two major companies in the industry announced a coordinated response on December 5.

This response includes legal actions against slander and death threats against VTubers and others. This is a major step that is welcomed in the industry to protect content creators from defamation and threats. Especially because this will eliminate the rivalry between the two companies and their agencies, and develop the VTuber industry healthily.

Source: Bengoshi News