"But idols aren’t like game assets" — Netizens react as NEXON employee claims HYBE's internal report was similar to the gaming company

On Sunday, November 3, 2024, an anonymous NEXON Korea employee claimed on Blind, that HYBE's controversial internal document was similar to the gaming company. The post went viral on the Korean online forum, TheQoo. The employee claimed that the gaming company, NEXON Korea, would often collect data against its competitors and create a document on market analysis.

For the unversed, Blind is an app that is used by Korean employees where users can maintain their anonymity while posting. Meanwhile, Daily Sports reported that the employee claimed that former label CEO, Park Ji-won, could have brought the idea of creating such a disparaging document. As translated by Allkpop, the employee claimed,

"I saw a few monitoring reports and this is the same as what Nexon has been doing. Dumb people writing a trend monitoring report to glaze their supervisors, ignoring criticisms, and only accepting compliments. I wonder if Park Ji Won brought this over to HYBE."

It is crucial to note that Park Ji-won served as NEXON Korea's chief executive officer (CEO) before he served as the CEO of HYBE Corporation from 2020 to 2024. He was succeeded by Lee Jae-sang as the entertainment company's head in July 2024.

Netizens shared their reactions to the claim that the entertainment conglomerate utilized a concept of marketing analysis from a gaming company. One netizen commented that K-pop "idols aren't like game assets" and wrote on X:

"It's concerning to see that HYBE's internal reports take a similar approach to Nexon's, where former CEO ParkJiWon once worked. But idols aren’t like game assets—they're real people, and discussing them in such detailed internal reports feels inappropriate and dehumanizing"

Internet users underscored that "idols are not game characters."

"Nexon is a gaming company idols are not game characters," an X user wrote.

"Not surprised. It is a market culture, education is in national wide base, well trained people run around the market especially in the same industry." another user wrote.

"2 comments: 1. Other Kpop companies wouldn't dare to admit it. 2. Ex-CEO Park Ji-won was also CEO of Nexon Korea before he joined HYBE; interesting correlation." one other user noted.

Others claimed that the entertainment label "destroyed" the K-pop industry as the controversial report stirred unrest in the online community.

"They destroyed kpop industry," one X user stated.

"So idols are products?? Based on nexon??" another user wrote.

"This controversy is getting bizarre by each day. An 18,000 page document just containing disparaging content towards every idol group including its own group—BTS. Hybe have you finally lost it?" another user added.

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HYBE accused of allegedly using reverse viral marketing based on their internal report

Following the public disclosure of HYBE's 18,000-page internal document, the label has been facing allegations of using reverse viral marketing. On November 1, 2024, Daily Sports reported that an anonymous user claiming to be an employee of the label allegedly exposed some parts of the controversial report on Nate Pann.

This included contentious assessments of artists and business leaders titled "Weekly Music Industry Report." According to the individual, the exposed report included over 900 pages from the original controversial internal document.

It also showed several screenshots of supposed emails between other employees and HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk about allegedly "slandering" other K-pop groups. As translated by Allkpop, the anonymous individual wrote:

"I've finally mustered up the courage to upload these after exercising patience for too long. I reported it to several major media outlets. But it seems that they are unable to publish it."

The individual continued,

"Contrary to HYBE's claims that they did not use inverse viral marketing tactics, I wanted to make it known that much of the content found in these reports were actually used for inverse viral marketing campaigns. Furthermore, these reports contain slander not only against artists, but numerous industry affiliates"

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In other news, on October 29, 2024, CEO Lee Jae-sang released an apology statement on the company's website, addressing the ongoing controversy. He claimed that the document was a compilation of fan comments left on online platforms against every idol group.

Lee added that the creation of such documents had been halted and that stricter guidelines would be established to prevent such issues in the future.