A person in a dispute who scorned another on social media by using abbreviations of the Zhuyin Fuhao (注音符號) phonetic system, commonly known as “Bopomofo,” has been found guilty of making a public insult and ordered to pay a NT$5,000 fine.
The Taichung District Court ruled that the defendant, a woman surnamed Chen (陳), had written a severe insult in posting her message on the online public forum Dcard, using five phonetic symbols — “ㄍㄋㄋㄐㄅ” — which although it appears as a cryptic code to people unfamiliar with the Bopomofo system, could be read aloud as an expletive, obscene phrase in both Mandarin and Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese).
ONLINE INSULT
Photo: Chang Jui-chen, Taipei Times
Chen was quoted as saying that she only got to know the plaintiff, a woman surnamed Lee (李), when buying shoes through the Shopee Web site, and had a dispute with Lee when she asked to return a pair of shoes.
Chen told the judge that Lee had first written a contemptuous response, and had misunderstood the situation, while stating her reply was not aimed at Lee.
In examining the evidence, the judge found that Chen had posted a conversation between the two sides to Dcard, with the aim of sharing the content with others, while also making Lee’s personal information — including Lee’s Instagram and Facebook accounts — publicly available.
The court added that upon questioning, Chen admitted to writing “ㄍㄋㄋㄐㄅ” as an abbreviation for the colloquially obscene phrase.
The judge ruled that Chen had publicly insulted Lee.
The judge ruled that the case had sufficient evidence and found her guilty of making a public insult, thus violating Article 309 of the Criminal Code. The judge ordered Chen to pay a NT$5,000 fine.
The ruling may be appealed.
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