Supreme Court's Ruling on the Defamation Case (Facebook)

The Supreme Court of Korea found that defamatory information published via Facebook in good faith and published in the public interest does not violate Article 70 (2) of the Information Protection Act.

The defendant published a defamatory post on Facebook, mentioning that

"the Representative Director made the staffs drink three bottles of Soju regardless of their conditions, and female staffs to choose bargirl in Karaoke."

The Court found that the public interest includes the interest of a specific group of people if it is related to the social life with other people. The Court construed the defendant's intention to criticize the company's excessive drinking culture, although the post was exaggerated. As the defendant consistently expressed the intent to improve the working environment by disclosing the corrupt in-house culture, the Court adopted the defendant's good faith.