The Tokyo District Court ruled on Tuesday that 15 "likes" and reposts on a former partner's X account after a stalking ban amounted to the contact the law forbids, convicting the woman and giving her a suspended six-month sentence.
Judge Yoshihiro Hayashi found the woman guilty of violating the Stalker Regulation Law. She was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for three years with probation. Prosecutors had sought six months.
The court said the reactions were "persistent and made the man feel fear."
Online reactions tested against the law
The Stalker Regulation Law — which bans つきまとい (tsukimatoi), or following and pestering — punishes acts carried out to satisfy romantic feelings or resentment. The case turned on whether pressing a reaction button on social media could be such an act.
The defense argued the woman held no special feelings for her former partner. She had reacted only while her awareness was unclear because of sleeping pills, the defense said, and sought an acquittal.
The court instead looked at an earlier conviction. The woman had already been found guilty of violating the same law by continuing to send the man messages, and was fined ¥200,000.
She repeatedly pressed "like" in the week after that ruling. From this, the court said it could "strongly infer" that her purpose was to satisfy romantic feelings.
The court attached probation to the suspended sentence, finding she needed guidance and advice from a specialist body to rehabilitate.
According to the ruling, the woman pressed "like" and reposted reactions 15 times on June 3 to posts by her former partner on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.