Any advice regarding online harassment/cyber bullying, and Portrait rights infringement? Few days ago a friend of mine was harassed online/cyber bullied on threads. She has posted a controversial opinion regarding a viral issue. The replies were half pro, and half against. (I also didn’t agree with her). That attracted a lot of criticisms on her. She then ‘argued’ with lots of people. (I can say her tone wasn’t harsh, but like passive aggressive; still looked arguing.)
One of them was persistent (just as her), and also ended up messaging some people including me on Instagram. It’s how I knew about this. The message was something like “hey do you condone her action online that led her to post revealing photos?” (The relevance of this was because the viral issue she had posted about was actually about modesty. Friend posted something not so modest photos to support her argument.) I didn’t accept that message and seems like it was deleted day after. I believe her friends and I were found in the same IG account (it’s a mom group) we follow. They ended up replying to each other for hours. That person reposted a screenshot of her posts everywhere (which is no longer available at that time since she archived it), even under comments of other people arguing with my friend. Together with the screenshot of the revealing photos she posted.
My friend decided to pursue legal actions. My friend deleted the posts and some of her replies. She has screenshots of the interactions with that person. She then threatened that person with “Hasshisha Joho Kaiji”. This is the tricky part. And why I advised her to just let it go. The account seems unreal. The instagram account is private. The threads is public but looks relatively new. Upon research, I found out it takes a lot of money to even just hire a lawyer. Regarding portrait rights; I don’t know if a screenshot of her post (maybe the screenshot of the photo she posted may apply) actually fit the requirements for this. Even if my friend has the time and money (it’s extremely expensive), that person can simply refuse to share their IP and have their reasons. Also probably lives far too. That person stopped engaging with her 2 days ago. The messages are longer gone. The person’s profile aren’t posting anymore related to her. From my perspective, it seems like a petty argument online. Even I didn’t agree with my friend’s actions. (But she has the right to feel violated as that person was messaging people she knew). The only threat I see is the them messaging her friends about her online activity.
In my opinion, maybe defamation is suitable but when it’s online and it’s ‘anonymous’, how likely is my friend going to succeed in this?
by hokkaidotsubuan