The Tainan District Court has found a teenager guilty of posting a sexually explicit video of his girlfriend on social media without consent.
The court ruled his parents were legally responsible for the boy’s actions, and ordered NT$500,000 (US$16,051) to be paid in compensation to the victim.
The incident took place in December last year, when the boy and his girlfriend, both under 18 and legally minors at the time of the incident, were in a relationship.
Photo: Wang Chun-chung, Liberty Times
The boy asked her to send him explicit videos, according to a court filing.
A month later, he posted the video on social media, with its visibility limited to his friends, which she learned of several months later, the court filing said.
“She filed a civil lawsuit against her boyfriend and his parents requesting NT$1 million in compensation, saying she had suffered mental and physical trauma from the incident,” the court filing said.
At the trial, the boy said that because she had sent the video voluntarily, there was no element of intimidation or coercion.
The teenager said that her face was not visible in the video and that he warned his friends not to circulate the video, making it a relatively minor violation of her privacy.
He also said the compensation of NT$1 million was too high.
The court ruled the teenager had broken the law by posting the video on social media.
“It was a clear violation of the girl’s rights to privacy, resulting in her suffering mental and physical trauma, which were quite serious,” the ruling said.
“The teenager’s parents are his legal guardians; they failed to supervise him, and did not effectively teach him not to infringe on the privacy rights of another person. Therefore, the parents are also responsible in this case and liable for compensation to the victim,” it said.
When a minor unlawfully violates the rights of another person, the court assesses the minor’s capability for judgement, and determines who is liable for financial compensation, attorney Chiang Hsin-hsien (江信賢) said.
In some cases in which a child has left home and not contacted their parents for an extended period or other atypical parenting situations, the parents might not be held liable for the child’s actions, Chiang said.
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