Mr. A, a YouTuber, was continuously slandered by a stranger, Mr. B., who said he was a drug addict, a fraud, and that his company was in violation of the law. What kind of person was he? One would imagine that he must have been extremely stressed by the attacks from a stranger, but it seems that he was a little different.
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&#8220;He himself doesn&#8217;t really care much about the existence of the antagonists,&#8221; said YouTuber A. &#8220;He feels that he should just leave them alone. He feels that he should just leave them alone and reads off posts such as &#8216;stupid,&#8217; &#8216;die,&#8217; and &#8216;bad taste. He is a cheerful person at heart, and I am amazed at his mental strength. So this case was more in the form of Mr. A&#8217;s company coming to us for advice because they couldn&#8217;t bear to see him go through with it,&#8221; said Authense&#8217;s lawyer.
Nevertheless, the charges and lawsuit were probably a decision made by Mr. A himself, perhaps because B was so malicious.
 Yes, the words &#8220;drugs,&#8221; &#8220;fraud,&#8221; and &#8220;violation of the law&#8221; were indeed too much to pass up, and it was probably because he was so persistent. Mr. A had several other anti-posters, but he was consulted, saying, &#8216;I want to do something about this one (B).
So, how was the case finally settled? First, the criminal complaint was summarily dismissed, and Mr. B was fined approximately 300,000 yen. In the civil suit, the court ruled that Mr. B must pay approximately 800,000 yen in compensation to Mr. A. Mr. A will only receive approximately 800,000 yen in compensation.
It is still surprising that only 800,000 yen in compensation was awarded. The amount is too low for a man who had been written so many falsehoods and had even gone to trial for them.
 The fact that the full amount of the attorney&#8217;s fees required for the disclosure request was not approved is also a factor in this case. I suppose that the judgment of the case is different from that of a case in which an ordinary person is slandered, in that running a business involves a certain amount of risk. Regardless of the pros and cons, my impression is that companies may be a little more strict in this type of case.
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So what if the person suing for slander is entirely an individual? According to Authense&#8217;s lawyer, &#8220;It depends on the content, but it may be easier to determine whether it is an infringement of rights than for a corporation.
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 Mr. A is a celebrity and the company has a certain amount of publicity, so it was decided that the public&#8217;s postings would really discredit the company. It is conceivable that if this had been a slander suffered by a member of the public, it might have been judged a bit differently because the degree of impact would have been different.&#8221;
In the cases that Authense attorneys have seen so far, the attorney&#8217;s fee is about 1 million yen for a civil suit only after the disclosure request, and the settlement amount is about 1 to 1.5 million yen after negotiations, which is about even.
&#8220;In fact, I would like to see more compensation paid,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I feel sorry for them because they have been written so many terrible things about me. The biggest problem is that in Japan, the amount of compensation is too loW,&#8221; said a lawyer from Authense.
The main problem is that the fee is too low in Japan.  The reason why the settlement was not settled for 3 million yen this time was apparently influenced by the fact that a celebrity&#8217;s slander case was settled for 3.5 million yen at the same time.
It is too late to say for certain, but if the case had been settled for 3 million yen, Mr. A would have been left with about 1.5 million yen, half of what he would have received excluding attorney&#8217;s fees. In fact, &#8220;there are a certain number of cases that settle for 2 to 3 million yen,&#8221; says Authense&#8217;s lawyer.
 People seem to think that you can make money by suing for slander, but there is a gap between that and reality, because only very successful cases are reported in the media. I hope that people understand that it is not a matter of &#8216;doing it to get a good feeling,&#8217; and that it is not a matter of &#8216;doing it for the financial gain.
Some may be disappointed by the surprisingly harsh reality. However, if one can be freed from the worries of slander for about 1 million yen, it is considered much better than crying oneself to sleep. It is not a bad idea to consult a lawyer once if you are worried.
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 Reiko Otsuka

A general law firm with its main office in Minato-ku, Tokyo. 
(https://www.authense.jp/)

 Authense Law Office

 Mr. A, a YouTuber who was continuously slandered by a stranger, "B," who said he was "on drugs," "a fraud," and "his company is in violation of the law," decided to file a criminal complaint and a civil lawsuit. What kind of person was he?

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