“Might negatively impact NewJeans” — Legal expert warns NJZ fandom over petition inflation amid controversy

On March 18, 2025, TenAsia reported that a legal expert cautioned NewJeans (now NJZ) fans over the controversy of inflating petition signatures against ADOR and HYBE. Inflation of petition signs is a practice where the number of signatures is artificially increased to exaggerate support.

Over 30,000 fans of the girl group NewJeans, now rebranded as NJZ, have signed a petition urging the Seoul Central District Court to dismiss an injunction filed by their former agency, ADOR. The injunction seeks to maintain ADOR's management rights over the group following NJZ's unilateral termination of their exclusive contracts in November 2024.

TenAsia reported that currently the petition filed by Team Bunnies (NewJeans fans) is under scrutiny due to allegations of signature inflation.

On March 18, 2025, a legal expert raised alarms about the potential inflation of petition signatures. Such actions, they warn, could undermine the petition's credibility and have legal repercussions.

The expert said that this could "negatively impact" the Attention girl group's cause.

"Petitions submitted to the court are typically written to seek leniency in cases of injustice. This petition might negatively impact NewJeans."

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What is the 30,000-signature petition regarding NewJeans fans?

On March 13, 2025, NME reported that around 30,000 fans of NewJeans (NJZ), signed a petition asking the Seoul Central District Court to reject an injunction sought by their former agency, ADOR.

This injunction reportedly seeks to retain management rights over the group and to stop them from engaging in advertisement deals outside of ADOR. The injunction's first hearing was held on March 7, 2025.

Tensions mounted between NJZ and ADOR when the group announced their contract termination on November 28, 2024, citing the label's negligent and willful mistreatment towards them.

Fans began to voice concerns that if NJZ was forced to go back to ADOR, the artists would be placed in a "hostile environment," which would impact their careers and well-being.

The petition was started by members of a coalition of NJZ's fan club, Team Bunnies, on February 24, 2024. The petition read:

“We support the members’ termination of their exclusive contracts. Should they be forced to continue their activities with a company with whom their trust has been destroyed, then it would only prolong the members’ agony to continue working in a hostile environment, and neither the artists nor the fans would be able to enjoy their activities in the future.”

As of March 18, 2025, TenAsia reported that the petition is being investigated for fraudulent signature activity. In response, Team Bunnies posted on X, refuting claims of inflating the signatures with illegal methods.

Team Bunnies defended themselves and explained that the 10,000 domestic signatures were accumulated via Glosign while 20,000 international signatures were collected via Google Form. They explained:

“The 20,000 global signatures, which have been accused of being inflated, were derived from the 28,329 total signatures originally submitted via Google Forms. From this total, we excluded approximately 10,000 entries that contained incomplete information or lacked proper name details."

Team Bunnies also explained that the domestic signatures were taken in "the same manner as the fandom petition submitted to the 50th Civil Agreement Division in April." Talking about the verification, the collective wrote,

"These signatures were verified using authenticated information, including name, email, phone number, and a unique contract ID, all of which were submitted as part of the petition."

The fan collective also shared screenshots from what looked like Google Sheets to substantiate their claims.

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ADOR's injunction against NewJeans (NJZ) is yet to have its final hearing. The parties are due for their first hearing on April 3, 2025, for the lawsuit filed by ADOR to verify if the group's contract termination is legally binding in a court of law.

If the court sees it as wrongful termination from the girl group then NJZ would likely have to pay a hefty penalty to HYBE and ADOR and possibly return to their old agency.