HYBE takes strong action against infringement on artists' rights, including malicious postings and privacy invasion.

HYBE revealed that it will take a strong response to acts that infringe on artists' rights, such as malicious postings. On the 29th, HYBE's six labels publicly disclosed cases of infringement on the rights of each artist and the legal response to them through Weverse and SNS for each artist. According to this, malicious postings, acts that threaten the safety of artists and invade privacy, impersonation crimes, leakage of personal information, and postings that caused harm to artists within channels that live stream were pointed out as acts of infringement. The announcement included illegal acts and the progress of individual artists' lawsuits, and even the results of punishment. Ten groups, including NU'EST, BTS, SEVENTEEN, fromis_9, TOMORROW X TOGETHER, ENHYPEN, LE SSERAFIM, NewJeans, and &TEAM, posted such announcements. HYBE officials explained, "Artists are subject to criticism and surveillance as public figures, but first and foremost, they must be respected and protected as individuals," and "To eradicate repetitive and malicious human rights violations that cause mental shock to artists, we have taken legal action." HYBE is proceeding with regular legal responses, including this lawsuit and indictment. In the case of the most frequently posted malicious postings, cases are collected using fans' information and a voluntary monitoring system. The monitoring system built by HYBE itself can collect evidence, including postings that were anonymously posted and then deleted, covering all channels such as SNS and online communities. HYBE officials emphasized that the label's dedicated team thoroughly searches for content that falls under defamation, insults, sexual harassment, dissemination of false information, and malicious defamation, and protects the rights of artists. In fact, the number of defendants prosecuted by BIGHIT MUSIC related to TOMORROW X TOGETHER has increased significantly compared to the first half of the year. Recently, the number of malicious postings that differ from the facts about artists has increased, as a result of strengthening voluntary monitoring. Many creators of malicious postings have been subject to criminal penalties. Pledis Entertainment has sued a suspect who has repeatedly created highly malicious postings about fromis_9. Due to the seriousness of the case, the suspect was brought to court and received a maximum fine of 3 million won (about 32,000 yen). In addition, some suspects who insulted LE SSERAFIM were recognized after a long police investigation and were punished. SOURCE MUSIC and ADOR have a policy of dealing more strictly with suspects who have caused sexual shame, disgust, and sexual harassment against underage members of LE SSERAFIM and NewJeans. They also warn that they will seek strict punishment from the court for so-called private fans who seriously violate the privacy of artists, and have filed a criminal complaint against private fans who have caused damage to the homes of BTS members. BIGHIT MUSIC has also filed a criminal complaint against those who impersonated artists and leaked unreleased sound sources, and is awaiting a court ruling. Legal responses related to BTS, whose members are all in military service, will continue without interruption even during the military service period. HYBE LABELS JAPAN is also proceeding with monitoring of acts that infringe on the rights of &TEAM, and is taking measures to delete malicious postings. HYBE officials stated, "It is a fact that healthy fandom culture played a significant role until K-POP gained worldwide attention," and "In the future, in order for K-POP to expand into a sophisticated industrial ecosystem, problematic malicious postings and blind insults must be eliminated." Since 2018, HYBE has been periodically disclosing the progress of lawsuits against infringement acts by artist and the content of punishment.