【衝撃】女性「SNSやYouTubeの見すぎで鬱病になった。訴えます」→10億円支払い命令
A shocking story has emerged: a woman sued a tech company, claiming excessive use of social media and YouTube led to her depression, and amazingly, the company was ordered to pay ¥1 billion in damages!
The news has sparked widespread online disbelief, with many asking, "Is this for real?" and "How is that possible?"
Debate is particularly fierce over how the causal link was proven and the unprecedented scale of the compensation amount.
Related Keywords
Digital Wellbeing
Digital Wellbeing refers to the concept and practices for building a healthy relationship with digital devices like smartphones and social media, aiming to maintain mental and physical health. In modern society, digital devices have become indispensable, but their excessive use is linked to various mental and physical health issues such as sleep deprivation, decreased concentration, anxiety, and depression. For instance, app designs like frequent notifications, infinite scrolling, and autoplay are believed to unnecessarily prolong user engagement and potentially increase addiction. Features such as Apple's "Screen Time" and Google's "Digital Wellbeing" help users reflect on their digital habits by allowing them to check and limit app usage time or turn off notifications before bedtime. The case in this article, where SNS and YouTube use was cited as a cause of depression, exemplifies a violation of digital wellbeing. This suggests that not only users need to reassess their digital habits, but platforms are also increasingly expected to design services that prioritize user health.
Tech Company Liability
Tech Company Liability refers to the extent of legal and social responsibility that platform providers should bear for damages incurred by users due to their services. This has become a particularly salient debate in recent years. Specifically for social media and video-sharing sites, it's pointed out that their algorithms, designed to recommend specific content or maximize user engagement, can negatively impact users' mental states and society at large. For instance, issues like displaying harmful content to minors, spreading hate speech and misinformation, or becoming a breeding ground for bullying often highlight lax content moderation by these companies. In the US and Europe, governments are increasingly holding tech companies legally accountable for these problems, introducing laws that mandate the protection of users in specific age groups or impose obligations to remove unlawful content. This ¥1 billion payout is a landmark ruling, as it legally held a digital platform provider responsible for a user's mental health, profoundly influencing discussions on corporate design philosophy, ethics, and social roles.
Compensation for Psychological Damage
Compensation for Psychological Damage refers to the damages that can be claimed when one suffers mental distress due to an unlawful act or breach of contract. Generally known as "solatium" or "consolation money," it is recognized in various cases such as sequelae from traffic accidents, defamation, power harassment, and sexual harassment. However, the amount is determined by comprehensively considering the extent of the damage, the maliciousness of the harmful act, and social impact, making high-value cases limited. Proving a direct causal link between the use of services like SNS and YouTube and the onset of depression has traditionally been considered extremely difficult within conventional legal frameworks. Since mental illnesses often result from a complex interplay of various factors, objectively proving a one-to-one causal relationship with a specific digital service poses a significant challenge even for experts. The ¥1 billion compensation reported in this article is an extremely unusual amount for psychological damage, making the court's assessment of causal proof and calculation of damages a crucial precedent for similar future cases. This ruling suggests new risks in the digital age and the potential for legal remedies against them.