Malicious retweet violates election law

Daejeon High Court

By Ko Dong-hwan

A man faced a heavy penalty for what may appear as just a “bad” retweet.

Criminal Investigation Department at the Daejeon High Court on July 31 handed down a penalty of 15 million won in fine to Hwang, 28, on charges of posting malicious retweets that slandered certain politicians, which infringes upon the Public Official Election Law.

Hwang pleaded guilty to posting malicious tweets against the 19th National Assembly election candidates Na Kyung-won from the Saenuri Party and proportional representative Park Geun-hye on four occasions in February and March 2012.

Hwang made an appeal against the judgment that he just “retweeted” postings left by others.

The court of appeals, however, maintained its judiciary position against his case by reasoning that “although the defendant didn’t post the original tweet, his retweet alone carries influence upon his Twitter followers.”

The court added, “Hwang’s act is of grave criminal nature because he publicized provocative, sensation-arousing false findings against public official election candidates through the most widely-used, fast SNS tool Twitter without any legitimate evidence.”