Square Enix issued a statement on April 20 announcing that it has taken legal action in response to multiple videos that constituted harassment towards its executives and employees. According to the announcement, the company identified the user who, on an undisclosed video sharing site, published content which harmed the reputation of the company and employees involved with Final Fantasy XIV.
At the time of the announcement, the videos in question and the account have already been taken down from the website according to Square Enix, with the company reaching an amicable settlement with the user. The user apologized for their actions, paid an undisclosed sum as compensation, and was prohibited from performing similar actions in the future.
This announcement follows another case of online harassment towards Square Enix employees which was reported by the company on March 2. As revealed in the official statement, the company had taken action against the administrator of the Japanese aggregator news blog Netoge Sokuho (formerly “FF14 Sokuho”) for publishing articles which damaged the reputation of its employees. As the website owner was anonymous, the company had to file a request for the site’s provider to disclose their identity, which was granted by the court much like in this new case. Following direct negotiations between the two parties, the website owner agreed to make a public apology, shut down the site and pay an undisclosed settlement.
While the account name and details of the videos from the aforementioned case haven’t been disclosed this time, it seems like the company’s response has been nearly identical to that taken in the Netoge Sokuho case.
On a related note, following the closure of Netoge Sokuho, Umadori Sokuho, another aggregator blog with a focus on Final Fantasy 14 content voluntarily announced that it would be shutting down, likely to prevent further damage from happening. Similarly, while not directly connected to Square Enix, Pazusoku, another aggregator website dedicated to Gung-ho’s hit mobile game Puzzle & Dragons, also announced its closure in March.
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