Instagram account impersonating Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong deleted on the morning of the 1st.
[Asia Economy Reporters Seongpil Cho, Gimin Lee] It has been confirmed that an Instagram account impersonating Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong has been deleted. Although the account deletion has brought the issue to a close for now, SNS impersonation targeting celebrities and other famous individuals is not a new phenomenon. There are growing calls to establish legal systems to punish such acts, which clearly infringe on others' rights.
According to Samsung Electronics and the legal community on the 1st, the Instagram account 'jaeyong_3831' impersonating Vice Chairman Lee was deleted that morning. Samsung Electronics reportedly received reports about the account and requested Instagram to delete it. A company official stated, "No one wants an account impersonating themselves to appear."
The deleted account used Vice Chairman Lee’s name and photo, posting content related to Samsung Electronics products and the Vice Chairman’s activities. Several posts gave the impression that the account was operated by the Vice Chairman himself. Some followers even commented, "It must be the real Vice Chairman Lee" and "We support you."
Such SNS impersonation clearly constitutes a violation of portrait rights. Portrait rights refer to the right not to have one’s image taken or published without consent. Based on this standard, Vice Chairman Lee’s portrait rights were infringed. However, it is not easy to hold the account operator criminally responsible. This is because there are no direct legal provisions or statutes regarding portrait rights under current law. Ultimately, to impose punishment, the act must be linked to criminal elements such as defamation. If the impersonation on SNS was done without any particular malicious intent, legal experts believe that responsibility for portrait rights infringement cannot be imposed.
"If the posts contain content targeting Vice Chairman Lee, it could be considered defamation under the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection. However, simply impersonating someone alone is not punishable. This is a legislative gap, and related discussions are ongoing," explained Lee Kyung-min, a lawyer at LF Law Firm.
Previously, Min Hong-chul, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, proposed amendments to the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization in 2015 and 2016 to allow criminal punishment for impersonation on SNS alone. However, the bills were discarded after being stalled. After the 21st National Assembly convened this year, Han Byung-do, also from the Democratic Party, reintroduced a similar amendment. According to the proposed amendment, anyone who impersonates another person without consent to distribute information may face imprisonment of up to one year or a fine of up to 10 million won.
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