I found this YouTube channel exposing a person, and the person who the channel is exposing argues that it’s “all slander” or “it’s taken out of context”, “you cannot speak for my intentions”. But when you look into the video descriptions, the channel uploader includes lots of links too, not just screenshots, and some of those links go directly to comments the person the channel appears to be exposing making some questionable comments about and to someone they knew was only 14 years old.
When people don’t believe them that it’s “all slander”, the person the channel appears to be exposing argues “you cannot speak for another person’s intentions” and “you’re misinterpreting everything”.
Is this manipulative behavior?
Legally, at least in the U.S. (though I hear not in Japan?), if you’re sued on a defamation case (slander or libel), if you can prove that what you said was true, that’s an ironclad defense.
I think it’s fair to say that you can’t necessarily know if something you’ve said about something was ethically acceptable until it’s certain whether what you said was true or not. If you say something about someone that you aren’t 100% sure is true, then whether it’s ok for you to have said that can’t really be known until the truth or falsehood of the assertion is certain.