``Liked'' 14 times on X, admitted to stalking, Tokyo District Court found guilty

On the 10th, the Tokyo District Court handed down the verdict for a 33-year-old female defendant who was charged with violating the Stalking Control Act by liking her ex-partner's SNS posts 14 times after receiving an order prohibiting stalking. Judge Hayashi Kinkan rejected the defense's claim of innocence and sentenced him to six months in prison, suspended for three years with probation.

According to the ruling, in March, the defendant received a restraining order from the Metropolitan Police Department to stop her from following a man she had previously dated. However, he was arrested and charged with violating the Stalking Control Act for continuing to send the line, and was sentenced to a 200,000 yen fine in May.

The following June, he was again indicted for clicking the "like" button on a man's post on X (formerly Twitter) 14 times and reposting it once.

The Stalking Control Law criminalizes acts such as ambushing someone, sending continuous phone calls, and e-mails for the purpose of satisfying feelings of love or resentment. Prosecutors determined that the defendant violated the same law by sending notifications by repeatedly pressing the "Like" button. On the other hand, the defense argued at trial that ``the likes and reposts were not for the purpose of romance or satisfying a grudge.''

The ruling pointed out that the act occurred three months after the restraining order and one week after the fine was sentenced, and that ``it can be strongly inferred that the act was for the purpose of satisfying romantic feelings.'' The judge said that searching for a man's post and reacting 15 times to it was ``possible unless he did it consciously, and it's unnatural to pretend that he doesn't have any special feelings,'' and concluded that ``this is a vicious crime that causes the victim to feel fear.''