If you’re into esports then you’ll no doubt have heard of Lee Sang-Hyeok, better known as Faker. He’s known for playing the ever popular League of Legends, and has been hailed as the best player in the world — he is to League what Michael Jordan is to basketball.
As with anything on the internet, e-sports and streaming in general can be a pretty toxic environment, and that toxicity can come from co-called fans as much as it can come from trolls. Sang-Hyeok has found himself the target of repeated online harassment and now he’s gotten the courts involved.
Who exactly is Lee “Faker” Sang-Hyeok suing?
Sang-Hyeok and the esports organization that represents him, T1, filed a criminal lawsuit against the “toxic fans” that have continuously harassed him according to Dexerto. The lawsuit was launched in July 2022 in South Korea, and it’s hoped that it will “create a healthy esports culture.” An official statement was made by T1 and Faker’s legal teams citing “slander” and “spiteful” comments as the reason for taking the legal option. These comments were sustained and only increased after repeated requests to stop.
Some may say that this response is a bit of an overreaction, after all, being insulted is sort of a part of life on the internet (although it shouldn’t be!). However, according to esports.net, the lawsuit is targeting those who took things a bit too far. Some trolls decided to bring Sang-Hyeok’s family into things, particularly his mother, creating obscene drawings, among other things. There’s being a hater, then there’s whatever that is, but whatever it is, it’s not OK.
How is it possible to sue someone for comments made online?
The lawsuit is being filed under Korean law, which obviously is different to U.S. laws. Criminal act article 311 shared by eSports News UK states that “A person who publicly insults another shall be punished by imprisonment or imprisonment without prison labour for not more than one year or by a fine not exceeding two million won (around £1,200).” A year in jail for insulting someone; seems totally fair. Of course, identifying the individuals and bringing them to justice may be difficult, but if they’ve broken the law, which it sounds like they have, then their IPs could possibly be traced.
Unfortunately there hasn’t been any news since 2022 about the lawsuit, so we can’t say whether the lawsuit has been successful or not. Either way, there’s a valuable lesson to be learned here, and that is to always be nice online because if you’re not, it’s off to jail for you.
