The internet is a beautiful place where people can express their personalities, meet new people, and have a good time until cyberbullying hits.
It is not a new issue that many personalities on the internet have unfortunately suffered harassment on social media, and this has caused them problems of depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, or worse, deciding to take their own life.
Harassment is a serious issue, which is why authorities in Japan recently updated the country's penal code. This is to classify online bullying and harassment as a crime with a fine of approximately $2,600 and possibly up to a year in prison. In addition, the statute of limitations for this type of crime increased to three years.
To give you an idea of this significant change, the maximum punishment for this was 30 days in jail and a maximum fine of $75.
WHY DID JAPAN TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY?
The discussion that led to this reform began in 2020 after the suicide of Hana Kimura, a Japanese celebrity who participated in Terrace House, a Netflix reality show. Before she died, the fighter also published several screenshots of hateful messages that she received through social media. For this case, three subjects were investigated, and 2 of them had to pay fines of $66.
The case caused a lot of controversy in Japan, and because of this, the Japanese authorities worked to promote laws that would punish cyberbullying. This will be better defined since people are concerned about how the new law may work and fear having a greater limitation on freedom of expression, especially since the law does not specify what counts as an insult.
Do you think that this measure will reduce online harassment? Tell us in the comments.
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