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It took only minutes for a smear campaign to engulf the internetafter a woman in central Japan was outed for ignoring a request to self-isolate at home following a positive test for COVID-19 and using public transportation to travel toTokyo.

Its a murder if someone dies, oneperson postedon Twitter. Spreading the virus is equivalent to assault. You deserve to get burned, said another.

One individual likened the woman's reckless behavior to an act of terrorism.

It wasn't long before thewomans name and photo surfaced on the internet, as well as information on her workplace, schools she attended, friends and parents address.

Webpages dedicated to collecting information about her, and even videos, quickly appeared online.

The attacks on the woman's integrity went far beyond accepted social norms, and could be grounds for legal action, say experts. The problem is that the damage has already been done.

Realizing the appallingsituation in which the woman now finds herself, Yamanashi prefectural government officials have begun taking steps to protect her privacy and human rights.

Social critics weighed in on the problem, blaming built-up stress from the prolonged new coronavirus pandemic for social networking sites spiraling out of control.

According to local officials, the woman in her 20s who lives in Tokyo returned to her hometown in Yamanashi Prefecture on April 29.

They said the womanfirst became aware that she had lost her sense of taste and smell, surefire indications of infection, on April 26. But she continued to work in Tokyo until April 28, then traveled by coach to return home the following day, with a relative driving her for the latter part of the journey.

She attended a barbecue party with friends in the prefecture on April 30.

The same day, she learned that a coworker had tested positive for the virus, so shetook a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test on May 1.

Officials advised her to self-isolate at her parents home until the test result came back.

But she returned to Tokyo that evening. Compounding the problem, she boarded a highway bus destined for Tokyo's Shinjuku district.

Her result came back positive on May 2.

Officials were later informed that the woman left Yamanashi Prefecture on the morning of May 2 using public transportation, well after she learned that she was infected with the virus.

After officials released details to the public, the news media picked up on the story and social networking sites had a field day.

Friends and other people who know the woman found themselves the target of all sorts of falseaccusations.

A restaurant in Tokyo was named on the internet as the woman's employer, prompting the eatery to post the followingmessage on its website: We have not had a COVID-19 patient.

The management alsowarned, We will respond rigorously to any damage to our reputation and take legal action if necessary.

A high school classmate who attended the BBQ with the infected woman was also the target of a vicious rumor.

Theshop where the former classmate works has been inundated with inquiries asking, Somebody working there carries the coronavirus, right?

You did such a poor job of training staff, one person posted on the internet, blaming the shop.

Apologize! wrote another.

The shops 47-year-old manageress said: Its unbearable that people smear us based on a false rumor. If this goes on, I will not hesitate to make a claim for damages.

The prefectural police say there may be grounds for prosecuting the case and have mounted an investigation into possible defamation against the infected woman.

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Theonline bashing is driven by nothing more than a pursuit of advertising revenue, say critics.

Noted literary critic Naoya Fujita was appalled by the speed and volume of accusations in this particular case.

The announcement by prefectural officials that the woman attended a BBQ and played golf triggered the adverse reaction in certain people, Fujita said.

People naturally get depressed as they try to cope with the various restrictions in place due to the pandemic, and the woman became an easy and acceptable target of bullying, said Fujita. In their eyes, she was enjoying life to the full.

Mafumi Usui, a social psychology professor at Niigata Seiryo University, said many people had lost their sense of perspective after weeks of blanket media coverage on the global health emergency.

People are stressed out more than they realize, which is why they behave so aggressively toward others, said Usui, citing crimpedlifestyles and financial worries.

He suggested that peoplelearn to cope better with the reams of information on social media "to prevent society from becoming self-destructive.

Many websites known as trend blogs also played a significant role in spreading accusations about the woman.

Michihiro Okumura, a professor at Tokyo City University who specializes in social media, said most of these trend blogs consist of unsourced online information.

Operators of these sites receive advertising revenue on the basis of page views and clicks.

Most of them are overproduced and run purely for money, not for social significance, Okumura said.

There is a tendency in Japanese society to question people's sense of responsibility in the harshest terms, said Masahiro Sogabe, a professor at Kyoto Universitys Graduate School of Law, adding that thetendency has become more intense as the pandemic continues.

Placing excessive blame on a person and posting pejorative comments online can jeopardize the individuals privacy beyond accepted boundaries of freedom of speech, and thus are illegal," Sogabe said. "The investigative authorities should pursue heinous cases, and punish the people as an example to others.

(This article was written by Shoko Tamaki, Shoichi Tanaka, Tatsuhiko Yoshizawa, Yasukazu Akada, Seri Ishikawa and Masayoshi Hayashi.)

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Smear campaign targets patient who knowingly traveled to Tokyo : The Asahi Shimbun - Asahi Shimbun