BTS’ label, HYBE Entertainment recently released a statement that announced that they would be actively taking legal actions against people who try who violate BTS’ artist rights. Their statement read :
‘Hello. This is BigHit Music. Our company is regularly using legal means to deal with slander, insults, sexual harassment, the spread of falsehoods, and other malicious acts against BTS, and we will proceed to speak about this matter.
We have completed the file of lawsuits against those who regularly post malicious comments and posts on community sites, blogs, and social media, that exceed the limits of simply expressing one’s opinion and crosses into the standards of what cannot be accepted societally, charing them with slander (Article 70 of the act on the promotion of the use of information and communication networks and the protection of information, etc.) and for other crimes of insults (Article 311 of the Criminal Code).
Amongst the existing cases, after the initial lawsuit was accepted, one of the suspects’ whereabouts became unknown and hence the prosecution was suspended for about a year before they were found again and it had been decided that a supplementary investigation will take place. We have also filed a civil compensation claim for the completed criminal disposition.
Even though it may take some time such as the above, the company take it to the end to hold the writers of such malicious posts responsible through the law, and we request your understanding that in order to maintain the confidentiality of the investigations and identifying the suspects, we are unable to tell you more of the specifics of the process or publicize how we are proceeding with the situation. We will continue to take stern measures to ensure that the writers of such malicious posts will be dealt with with strong legal action and we wish to let it be known that no leniency or compromise will be made.
We are continuing to collect the malicious posts and reports and will be dealing with them legally. We request that fans actively send tip-offs regarding such matters about our artists through the new BigHit Music legal response email (protect@bighitmusic.co.kr)
We are always grateful for the fans’ love and devotion to BTS. We will make endless efforts to protect our artists’ rights.
Thank you.’
