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One follower of a candidate was slapped with a fine of 1.2 million won for engaging in illegal election campaigning using Twitter. The court ruled that due to the nature of the Internet, which is characterized by openness and mass circulation, certain messages online can in fact ruin the fairness of any election.

Another Twitter user was also fined 800,000 won for posting a video clip of candidate who ran for mayor. Due to the fact that there is the absence of laws governing the issues surrounding Twitter’s effect, the court verdicts have been based on the National Election Commission’s guidelines. 

Currently the court verdicts are facing heated debates in political circles and the blogosphere. Twitter combines the strengths of blogs and instant messaging services. As most of you are already aware, it enables users to send and receive short messages of up to 140 characters on personal computers and mobile phones.

Many celebrities and ordinary citizens across the country are posting thousands of messages everyday through the social networking tool. There are of course messages untouched by the courts which are words of encouragement for other fellow citizens to get involved and exercise their right to vote. Interestingly due to the circulation of such messages, the voter turnout at the recent elections was much higher than expected.

There’s a lot to think about here: Should people be stopped from posting negative or positive messages about a certain politician? Doesn’t everyone have the right to speak about the politicians in their respective communities? It is right that illegal or misleading information about certain politicians or political parties should be deleted from the network right away. However, it doesn’t seem unfit for people to share all the right information.

The turnout in recent elections showed how mighty the latest online social networking tool is in attracting voters. Why clampdown the rights of people to freely express how they feel about policies, parties and the politicians? What are your opinions on the matter?