Enraged ARMYs expressed disappointments to Big Hit Entertainment.
On June 29, Big Hit Entertainment released a notice about the current status of their legal proceedings towards malicious activities of netizens. While this may seem a good action by BTS's label, ARMYs were angered because of the agency's sluggish move that they sent a protest truck to express their dismay.
Fans demanded a quick, appropriate, and legal response from the company. The truck contains texts, such as the following:
"Have you tried to comprehend fans and tried to speak with fans?"
"Who have you communicated with?"
"We are demanding quick response and the release of detailed disclosure of the process and results of the charges."
"Incompetent Big Hit, protect your artists. Allow the third round of charges."
In light of this, Big Hit Entertainment has already responded and confirmed through Weverse that the legal processes are ongoing. The agency, in a statement, said:
"Hello.
This is Big Hit Entertainment.
Our agency is regularly taking the legal procedures towards that malicious commenter who slanders, harasses sexually, spreads false gossips, and makes personal attacks to BTS. We'll let you know of the latest update of the case filed.
We recently filed complaints to the police with the evidence we collected through our own monitoring and fan submissions. The primary sources of evidence are online sites like DC Inside, blog posts, such as those on Tistory, and also SNS posts, comments on news articles and on music sites.
In the earlier complaints that we filed, some suspects were sentenced with fines, while the investigations are ongoing on other suspects. During the process, there was a case wherein the suspect has a legal representative and tried to negotiate with a settlement. However, we went by our principles and expressed our desire to not show leniency.
Notably, we collected the data of those who have been writing malicious comments about BTS for a long time and submitted them to the authorities. After an investigation by the police, some cases were recognized as crimes. These persons were forwarded to the prosecution and are waiting for their punishments. If these persons go on to engage in illegal actions after the court's judgment, we will file added complaints and file for compensation of damages.
The legal act against malicious posts is being managed by our legal team, in collaboration with a professional legal firm. Charges raised by a third party require the victim. Hence, the artist will personally appear at the police station for questioning. Therefore, it will be difficult for our company to provide cooperation and support for charges filed by third parties, whether it be through persons or organizations. We ask for your understanding.
Further, it takes a few months or more than one year at longest from the time a case is taken until it is finished. Even if it takes some time, countering the violation of our artists' rights remains solid, so we ask for your understanding regarding this.
We are continuously gathering proofs through consistent monitoring of malicious comments, and we are concurrently reporting and erasing those posts. We ask you to continue to actively submit evidence to our legal team.
We are always thankful for the fans' devotion and love towards BTS.
We'll continue to work hard to protect our artists.
Thank you."
