NewJeans’ “How Sweet” Music Video Age-Restricted, HYBE Requests Response from YouTube Headquarters
The music video for NewJeans' new song "How Sweet" has been classified as "age-restricted" content on the world's largest video site YouTube, prompting an investigation by HYBE, the parent company of NewJeans' agency ADOR, and Google
This video is uploaded on the HYBE Labels YouTube account.
According to the K-pop industry on May 27th, the music video for “How Sweet”, released on May 24th, was classified as age-restricted content, causing debate among NewJeans fans.
Despite the video’s high quality, its view count is growing more slowly compared to NewJeans’ “Bubble Gum”, released on April 27th.
“Bubble Gum” reached over 10 million views within a day of its release. In contrast, “How Sweet” had only reached 7.6 million views by 5 PM on the third day after its release. Given that the song ranks high on domestic music charts, including 2nd place on Melon’s Top 100, fans are speculating about the relatively low YouTube views.
Some netizens even targeted HYBE, spreading unverified rumors on SNS that HYBE intentionally imposed the age restriction to reduce the video’s exposure. This claim arises amid existing tensions between ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin and HYBE.
HYBE firmly denied these rumors. A HYBE representative stated, “HYBE does not set age restrictions when uploading music videos to YouTube. YouTube classifies content as age-restricted based on their own criteria. We have requested clarification from YouTube on the specific criteria that led to the age restriction and are awaiting their response.”
Some speculate that the presence of Coca-Cola in the “How Sweet” video might be the cause, suggesting that YouTube’s algorithm flagged it as an advertisement, leading to the restriction. Google is reportedly examining the technical aspects of this issue.
