Starship Entertainment has taken legal action against YouTubers who published false and malicious content targeting their artists, including K-pop girl group IVE. 

“We have been taking strong legal action regarding instances of malicious slander, circulation of false information, posts with personal attacks, and defamatory posts and comments,” the agency said in a statement on Tuesday, July 25.

The agency revealed that they first filed a legal complaint against these hateful content creators in October 2022.

Starship Entertainment said that those who were sued were sentenced to six months in prison, employment restrictions, and being listed on sex offender registries. 

 

They added that they’re also carrying out criminal and civil lawsuits overseas since November 2022 with the help of LIWU Law Group. 

Who is Starship Entertainment suing?

Starship Entertainment shared that between May and July 2023, the agency was able to obtain information about the admin of the “Sojang” channel through the help of the Google headquarters in the United States.  

In their statement, Starship Entertainment described Sojang as a well-known channel that “caused serious defamation of our artist IVE’s members by continuously spreading false information.” These malicious content, the label said, affected their operations. 

However, the agency continued that by the time Google informed the owner of the Sojang channel about the provision order, the channel claimed to have been hacked. Sojang also deleted numerous videos on their channel and issued an apology. 

Despite Sojang’s apology, Starship Entertainment stressed that they will “hold  civil and criminal liability for their past illegal acts.”

 

Aside from Sojang, the agency said that they’re also verifying information of the hosts of other cyber wrecker channels. 

“We plan to take all possible legal actions without leniency for the current and future cases of defamation or other additional damages caused to the artists,” Starship Entertainment promised. 

The agency added that they will also operate a monitoring system to protect the reputation, privacy, and rights of their artists. 

Starship Entertainment is home to K-pop groups such as MONSTA X, Cosmic Girls, CRAVITY, IVE, and soloists K.Will, Yoo Seung Woo, Jeong Se Woon. 

 

They also manages actors under King Kong by Starship, including Yoo Yeon Seok, Song Seung Heon, Lee Dong Wook, Kim Bum, Goo Ara, Ryu Hye Young, Shin Seung Ho, and more. 

Featured image: IVE’s Facebook