"Vspo!" wins lawsuit against a person who defamed its talent: "Even if ‘ateji’ is used, responsibility cannot be avoided if it can be reasonably identified"

Virtual Entertainment, which operates the VTuber project "VSPO!", won a lawsuit against a person who posted defamatory content about talent Nazuna Kaga.

The company identified the poster through a disclosure request, then sued in Tokyo District Court after settlement talks failed.

The court ruled in the company’s favor, and it recovered the full amount of damages, including late-payment interest.

The case highlights that even masked or misspelled posts can still be legally actionable if the target can be reasonably identified from context.