Citizen receives first guilty sentence for mentioning election on Twitter

Posted on : 2011-10-20 14:07 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Observers say the interpretation of the election law allowing prosecution for SNS statements endangers freedom of expression

By Park Kyung-man, Gyeonggi Correspondent 
  
A court of law has pronounced an 41-year-old company worker surnamed Song, from Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, who tweeted a list of names of individuals to be voted out at next year’s general election, guilty of advance election campaigning. The ruling is causing confusion among voters regarding the standards for limiting and clamping down on the expression of political opinions using social network services (SNSs) such as Twitter and Facebook.
On Oct. 14, the National Election Commission (NEC) published guidelines on what could and could not be done during election campaigns using SNSs, while the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office has also stated that it will crack down on illegal election activity using SNSs. Netizens, opposition parties and civic organizations, however, are protesting, claiming that the standards for crackdowns are vague, and therefore restrict voters’ freedom of political expression.
The NEC stated clearly that campaigning by normal voters using SNSs was “only possible during election campaign periods.” It also explained that anybody could spread messages supporting or opposing a particular candidate by repeated re-tweeting them, during election campaign periods. What this means is that the commission regards such actions, if they take place outside election campaign periods, as advance election campaigning. The court ruled that the question of whether such activity constituted election campaigning must be judged not only by the pretext under which it was taken, but also by judging whether it was concomitant with intentions to bring about an election victory or loss, through comprehensive observation factors such as the time, place and method by which it takes place.
Voters are therefore protesting that it is unclear when or to what extent they can express their opinions. The NEC, too, only says that it observes the extent of the expression and whether or not it constitutes organized or planned action. Uploading photos such as “voting evidence shots,” taken in front of polling stations, is not problematic, but the commission has stated that using photos to recommend to or induce others to vote for a particular candidate is illegal.
Netizens have created and shared a guide to about posting on Twitter without breaking election laws, while actively responding to election law regulations, including preparing rebuttals to a list of “10 questions and answers” about what is and is not possible in SNS election campaigning, which has been issued twice by the NEC.
Political commentator Seo Yeong-seok has posted a popular set of “tips for avoiding SNS [election law violation] clampdowns,” saying, he was “passing down a few tips to commoners who are frightened by talk of crackdowns, and who live without laws.”
In order to avoid crackdowns according to election law, Seo suggested secret methods such as: Predominantly tweet links to media articles; immediately delete your original post and post an apology if it turns out the media article you linked to contained false information and there is a risk of defamation; if you want to make a comment, first provide a link to an article by a media outlet with content similar to your own thoughts, then frankly express your thoughts via a relevant quote from the article, in quotation marks; making emotional praise or criticism of the candidate you are supporting or opposing is allowed; use the tactic of depending on famous or powerful Twitter users.
On Tuesday, Youja.net, a network formed in June this year by 52 civic groups including People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy and the Citizens’ Coalition for Democratic Media, held a discussion questioning SNS crackdowns at the PSPD’s Seoul’s lecture hall in Seoul, criticizing the current election law, which suppresses freedom of expression.
“Expression of political opinion through SNSs does not need to be regulated through laws on the election of public officials; on the contrary, [SNSs] need to be used even more actively for this,” said Lawyer Park Ju-min, one of the speakers at the discussion. “The NEC and law courts need to interpret election laws in a forward-looking manner.” On October 12, Youja.net appealed to the National Assembly to pass a “voter freedom law,” an amendment to the public official election law that includes increased freedom of political expression on the part of voters and guarantees of the right to vote.
  
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