As the spread of fake news against celebrities has recently intensified, agencies have started to take action
The content industry expanded from traditional broadcasts to online platforms, so content has become more difficult to control, leading to the spread of distorted facts. More people are trying to attract viewers for their content by targeting celebrities. Using content that would pique people’s interest, they created fake news and spread malicious rumors, such as divorce, marriage, or even death.
These rumor and fake news spreaders may find their actions fun, but the victims suffer a lot. Actress Kim Young Ok recently appeared on “Radio Star” and expressed her feelings about the rumor of her death. She complained, “They keep saying that I’m dead. People around me were very shocked. Why do they play such a prank? If I’m still young, I would just ignore it, but please don’t do that to someone who doesn’t have much time to live”.
There have also been divorce rumors of star couples and various fake news about marriages of famous actors, such as Song Hye Kyo, Cha Eun Woo, Song Ga In, etc. The problem became more serious when young idols also became targets. Rumors of Jang Won Young getting pregnant and having a romantic relationship with a celebrity much older than her were raised even when she was still a minor.
Despite the severe damage due to fake news, stars have no choice but to respond passively to avoid making things bigger. However, Jang Won Young’s agency Starship Entertainment decided to take action as they could no longer tolerate the harm. In particular, the agency filed a civil and criminal complaint against Sojang, a YouTuber who created fake news about Jang Won Young.
Starting from Starship, other agencies have also stood up. The Korea Entertainment Producers Association, the Korea Music Content Association, and many other communities issued statements about Sojang, saying “We earnestly demand malicious content creator Sojang to be severely punished”, adding “Please establish a system to prevent indiscriminate acts and crimes such as cyber defamation, insults, slandering, etc. for the continuous development of Korea’s pop culture industry”
Source: Naver
