KCSC Imposes 120 Million Won Fine on All Seasons of Produce for 'Vote Manipulation'

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] On the 14th, the Korea Communications Standards Commission held a plenary meeting at the Broadcasting Hall in Mokdong, Seoul, and decided to impose fines of 30 million KRW each, totaling 120 million KRW, on four programs: Mnet Produce 101, Produce 101 Season 2, Produce 48, and Produce X 101.

These programs caused controversy after it was revealed that the producers manipulated the paid viewer text voting results, resulting in some eliminated contestants and successful contestants being swapped in the broadcast. The commission pointed out, "Not only did this cause serious harm to viewers and participants, but it is also a serious problem that despite the organized manipulation of viewer voting results over four years, the broadcasters' verification systems did not function at all," and imposed fines of 30 million KRW each, which is 1.5 times the standard amount of 20 million KRW.

At the plenary meeting, legal sanctions were also decided for current affairs and news programs that conveyed uncertain information or sensationally exposed death scenes.

Regarding the press conference of Lee Yong-soo, an advisor to the Justice and Memory Solidarity, the commission decided to issue a "warning" to TBS-FM's "Kim Eo-jun's News Factory," hosted by Kim Eo-jun, who made statements such as "someone may have provided distorted information to Grandma Lee Yong-soo or written the press conference statement on her behalf," which were unconfirmed facts.

Additionally, YTN's "News Special - COVID-19," TV Chosun's "TV Chosun News Scene," and MBN's "MBN General News" were all issued warnings for infringing on the privacy of the deceased and their bereaved families by showing footage of the interior of the deceased's home through the keyhole of the front door while reporting the death of the head of the Justice and Memory Solidarity's comfort women victims' shelter.

Furthermore, GS Shop's "Choi Eun-kyung's W-Rita ABC Juicing Juice," which sold a fruit and vegetable juice made from the tropical fruit star apple under the name "ABC Juice," misleadingly suggesting it was made using apples, was fined 20 million KRW.

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