Big Hit "BTS Malicious Commenters, Legal Action Underway... No Leniency"[Full Text]

The group BTS held a paid online concert, 'Bang Bang Con The Live,' on the 14th / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ga-yeon] Big Hit Entertainment (Big Hit), the agency of the group BTS, has disclosed the status of its legal actions against malicious commenters.

On the 29th, Big Hit released an official statement through Weverse, stating, "We are regularly taking legal action against authors of malicious posts, including defamation, insults, sexual harassment, spreading false information, and malicious slander against BTS."

They continued, "Based on evidence collected through reports from fans and our own monitoring, we have filed complaints with investigative authorities. The main evidence includes posts on various communities and blogs, as well as posts on SNS, comments on news portals, and comments on music sites."

The agency explained, "Among the previously filed complaints, some suspects have been sentenced to fines, and investigations are ongoing for the remaining suspects. During this process, some suspects under investigation appointed representatives to request settlements, but we conveyed our firm stance of no leniency in accordance with our principles."

Furthermore, "We have collected information on individuals who have persistently posted malicious content about BTS over a long period and handed it over to the police. Some of them were found guilty of criminal charges during police investigations and have been transferred to the prosecution, awaiting disposition. If such criminal acts continue, we plan to take additional legal actions, including further complaints and strong civil damage claims," they emphasized.

Lastly, they said, "We are always grateful for the love and dedication of fans toward BTS. We ask for your active reports through Big Hit’s legal response account going forward. We will continue to make relentless efforts to protect the rights of our artists."

Below is the full official statement from Big Hit Entertainment

Hello.

This is Big Hit Entertainment.

We are regularly taking legal action against authors of malicious posts, including defamation, insults, sexual harassment, spreading false information, and malicious slander against BTS. We would like to inform you of the progress related to this matter.

Recently, based on evidence collected through reports from fans and our own monitoring, we have filed complaints with investigative authorities. The main evidence includes posts on various communities such as DC Inside, blog posts including Tistory, as well as SNS posts, comments on news portals, and comments on music sites.

Among the previously filed complaints, some suspects have been sentenced to fines, and investigations are ongoing for the remaining suspects. During this process, some suspects under investigation appointed representatives to request settlements, but we conveyed our firm stance of no leniency in accordance with our principles.

In particular, we have collected information on individuals who have persistently posted malicious content about BTS over a long period and handed it over to the police. Some of them were found guilty of criminal charges during police investigations and have been transferred to the prosecution, awaiting disposition. If criminal acts continue even after court rulings, we plan to take additional legal actions, including further complaints and strong civil damage claims.

Legal actions against malicious posts are conducted under the supervision of our legal team in close cooperation with specialized law firms. Since it is a principle that the artist as the victim must personally attend police investigations for third-party accusations, we ask for your understanding that the company cannot provide cooperation or support for third-party complaints from individuals or groups. Also, since complaints are filed per case and it takes from several months to over a year until the case is concluded, we ask for your understanding that our commitment to protecting the artist’s rights remains firm even if it takes some time.

We continuously collect evidence through ongoing monitoring of malicious posts and are simultaneously working on reporting and deleting such posts. We ask for your active reports through Big Hit’s legal response account going forward.

We are always grateful for the love and dedication of fans toward BTS.

We will continue to make relentless efforts to protect the rights of our artists.

Thank you.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.