Are VTubers people or characters? How does Japan’s law treat defamatory acts against VTubers 

Online spaces are inevitably plagued by acts such as cyberbullying, which often escalates into defamation. Thankfully, victims are able to defend themselves thanks to laws being in place for defamatory acts on social media and similar spaces. However, what happens when a VTuber is on the receiving end of slander? The topic of how the law treats defamatory acts against VTubers has been gathering some attention from legal experts in Japan. 

As opposed to influencers or celebrities, VTubers do not reveal their face and identity to the public and present themselves entirely as characters not existing in real life. Using a 2D or 3D avatar, they interact with their audience in-character.  

Recently, there have been more and more instances of VTubers experiencing slander, and in certain cases, VTuber management companies have taken legal action against the perpetrators. However, when the object of defamation is a VTuber, things get complicated when judging whether legal action is warranted or not due to the fact that VTubers are technically characters, and characters cannot be legally acknowledged as persons. 

In a statement for The Gold Online, a Japanese lawyer comments that in cases of defamation, it is normally possible to lodge either a criminal or civil case against the perpetrator. However, as VTubers’ are characters whose real identities are not publicly known, it is hard to argue that slander can hurt their reputation in society, so criminal liability is not likely to be acknowledged. 

On the other hand, they comment, civil cases have a higher probability of being acknowledged, and claiming damages on the grounds that the individual’s right to honor has been infringed upon is more likely to be successful. The lawyer mentions that there has been a case of defamation against a VTuber in 2023 where about $8000 were claimed in damages. 

At the same time, as a VTuber, proving that your right to honor has been encroached upon seems to be something of a grey area. Kotaro Maeno, a Japanese attorney, provides some insight on this topic in a statement for ITmedia. 

Maeno explains that defamatory acts are crimes against a person’s honor and dignity, but if someone posts defamatory comments about a VTuber, there is no honor or dignity to speak of legally, as they are an abstract character and not a person. It is treated the same way as making a negative remark about any fictional character. 

Because of this, Maeno comments, it’s important to establish that the defamatory act is targeted at the “person inside” rather than the character. They provide an interesting example of a trial in which it was judged that a slanderous comment targeted the “person inside” i.e., the person running the VTuber account rather than the character. 

Reportedly, a user directed the words, “She can’t help it that she’s a stupid *****, she’s mentally immature because she doesn’t have a mother” to a certain VTuber, and due to this remark being in response to a tweet/post about the VTuber taking a break in their activities for medical reasons – a real life circumstance, it was judged in court that the act was indeed slanderous towards the “person inside.” 

Maeno offers the opinion that, although standards for such trials have not yet been defined, it’s most likely that courts will increasingly examine whether statements are directed at the real person or the character in defamation trials, regardless of whether the VTuber’s handle is used. He also adds that “what’s true of a character” will also likely become an important aspect of making such judgements. For example, in the previously cited case, the perpetrator mentions the victim not having a mother, but if this is not part of the character’s lore and rather a real-life circumstance, the act is judged to be targeted at the person inside. 

As being a VTuber is a relatively new way of interacting with and presenting oneself to the public, there remain many legal loopholes which make defending yourself as a VTuber significantly more complicated than as a regular content creator. Fortunately, it seems that conditions are developing in a direction favorable to VTubers, albeit gradually.