The group BTS shared the progress of their legal action against malicious commenters.

Big Hit Music, the agency of BTS, announced on the 31st through the official fan community Weverse the ongoing regular legal actions against the authors of malicious posts.

The agency stated, "Due to the previous lawsuit, the identities of multiple authors of malicious posts have been identified and investigations are underway, and for some suspects, fines have been confirmed. Some of the remaining suspects have been referred to the prosecution for ongoing investigations, while others are undergoing a formal trial," adding, "We will do our best to ensure that the authors of malicious posts receive severe penalties."

Regarding the YouTuber "Tal Deok Su Yong So," it was explained, "The first-instance ruling recognizing a total liability for damages of 76 million won against the cyber-attack YouTuber 'Tal Deok Su Yong So' has been announced. However, as 'Tal Deok Su Yong So' has appealed the verdict, we are responding sincerely in the appeal court, and we will do our utmost to ensure that 'Tal Deok Su Yong So' takes appropriate responsibility for the illegal actions taken against the artist."

Additionally, Big Hit Music said, "At the end of last year, serious criminal acts such as stalking against the artist occurred, and we have been responding to that. We reported such criminal acts to the police promptly, and the suspect was arrested in the act and is currently under investigation and trial while in custody, resulting in a fine of 10 million won being imposed and confirmed earlier this year. We intend to respond strictly without leniency towards any acts that threaten the safety of the artist, including stalking."

"We once again emphasize that generating baseless malicious rumors that harm the artist's reputation and personality rights, openly insulting the artist with the intention to defame, sexually harassing the artist, and infringing on the artist's private life are not only serious harms to the artist but also constitute illegal acts punishable under relevant laws," the agency warned.

Meanwhile, BTS's full group activities are expected to resume in June when all members complete their military service.

The following is the full statement from the agency.

Hello.
This is Big Hit Music.

To protect the rights and interests of our artist BTS, we are conducting regular legal actions against the authors of malicious posts such as defamation, insult, sexual harassment, dissemination of false information, and malicious slander directed at the artists. We would like to inform you of the main progress in this regard as follows.

First, due to the previous lawsuit, the identities of multiple authors of malicious posts have been identified and investigations are underway, and for some suspects, fines have been confirmed. Some of the remaining suspects have been referred to the prosecution for ongoing investigations, while others are undergoing a formal trial. We will do our utmost to ensure that the authors of malicious posts receive severe penalties.

Meanwhile, as fans may have learned through the media, the first-instance ruling recognizing total liability for damages of 76 million won against the cyber-attack YouTuber 'Tal Deok Su Yong So' has been announced. However, as 'Tal Deok Su Yong So' has appealed the verdict, we are responding sincerely in the appeal court, and we will do our utmost to ensure that 'Tal Deok Su Yong So' takes appropriate responsibility for the illegal actions taken against the artist.

Additionally, last year at the end of the year, serious criminal acts such as stalking against the artist occurred, and we have been responding to that. We reported such criminal acts to the police promptly, and the suspect was arrested in the act and is currently under investigation and trial while in custody, resulting in a fine of 10 million won being imposed and confirmed earlier this year. We intend to respond strictly without leniency towards any acts that threaten the safety of the artist, including stalking.

Furthermore, based on valuable reports from fans and our own real-time monitoring, we have continued to collect malicious posts posted on numerous domestic and international platforms, including DC Inside (BTS gallery, men's celebrity gallery, etc.), Daily Best Storage, Daum Cafe (Women's Age, Jjukbbang Cafe, etc.), Theku, Instiz, and X (formerly Twitter) during this quarter. As a result, we have secured an extensive amount of evidence regarding malicious posts, and we inform you that we have submitted complaints to the investigative agency based on this evidence. We are also closely monitoring malicious posts regarding BTS members who are currently fulfilling their military obligations, and we are continuously reporting and taking legal action against these posts as well.

Generating baseless malicious rumors that harm the artist's reputation and personality rights, openly insulting the artist with the intention to defame, sexually harassing the artist, and infringing on the artist's private life are not only serious harms to the artist but also constitute illegal acts punishable under relevant laws, and we once again emphasize this.

Big Hit Music is receiving reports from fans regarding violations of artist rights. If you discover cases that infringe on artist rights, such as malicious posts or IP infringement, please actively report through the 'HYBE Artist Rights Violation Report Site.' In this regard, we recommend capturing screens in full on PC rather than mobile screens, or providing complete print files (PDF) to ensure that your reports can more effectively lead to legal action. Especially if information such as URLs, authors, post content, and capturing dates is clearly visible, it will greatly help in the legal process.

We are always grateful for the love and dedication of our fans toward BTS. In the future, Big Hit Music will continue to strive to protect the rights of our artists.

Thank you.

[Photo] Big Hit Music

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