The gaming community can be pretty toxic. League of Legends star Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok is now taking legal action against hate comments along with his orga T1.
Already in 2020, the CEO of T1 spoke out clearly on behalf of the organisation against hate comments and agitation on the internet. But time and again, the League of Legends superstar “Faker” in particular is the target of hate attacks. Now, both the pro and the organisation are resorting to tougher measures against the toxic fans.
On 19 July, Faker’s legal team launched several criminal cases against those who repeatedly spread violent threats and hate comments.
What happened?
The organisation had increasingly called for this toxic behaviour to cease. However, the situation did not improve and T1 felt compelled to take action against the perpetrators.
APEX Law LLC, on behalf of @faker as a member of @T1LoL has filed a case(s) against negative commentees towards Faker under Criminal Act Article 311 on July 19th, 3:10 PM KST pic. twitter.com/h35q5cX0aM
– Ashley Kang (@AshleyKang) July 19, 2022
The official statement from the legal department says, according to InvenGlobal, that it was a smaller group that had been sending repeated and increasingly bad comments to the number 1 player Faker. However, the spokespersons do not want to give an exact indication of the number of proceedings initiated. They also do not disclose any information about the content of the messages, as it could reveal too much about the identity of those accused.
What consequences could the proceedings have?
Should the court rule in Faker’s favour, the culprits can expect a fine of between the equivalent of 750 and 1,500 euros. However, in individual more serious cases, the legal department said, the sentence could even lead to imprisonment.
In response to the announcement of the criminal proceedings, an anti-faker group has already sent an apology to Orga. It is not known how further action will be taken in this specific case.
In general, it is a big step for an esports organisation to take legal action against such behaviour. Online and especially in the gaming sector, toxic behaviour is almost the norm. But this is exactly what Faker and T1 want to fight against with their initiative. T1 wants to continue to protect its players as well as the community and establish a “healthy Esports culture”.
