"HYBE Stop Stealing The8's Name": New virtual girl group, SYNDI8 faces plagiarism accusations for its alleged similarities to SEVENTEEN member's name

HYBE is under fire for allegedly plagiarizing SEVENTEEN's The8's name for their new virtual girl group, SYNDI8. On June 27, HYBE dropped the debut album MVP of the virtual girl group, announcing their virtual journey through music, garnering attention from Carats (SEVENTEEN's fandom).

Xu MingHao, a Chinese member of the boy group SEVENTEEN, is known among fans as The8. He has been seen using the number 8 in multiple places. Netizens pointed out that the name SYNDI8 allegedly sounds similar to The8, which the idol has been using as his stage name since his debut in 2015.

Furthermore, some Korean netizens highlighted that the Korean spelling of SYNDI8, “신디에잇”, is almost the same as writing The8 in Korean which is “디에잇”. The only difference in the Korean spelling of the idol's name and the group's name is “신,” which is added at the start of SYNDI8.

Fans and netizens have expressed their anger and disappointment in HYBE by accusing them of plagiarism. Since SEVENTEEN’s agency PLEDIS is a subsidiary of HYBE, fans are enraged as they believe they copied their own artist's name for a new group.

“HYBE Stop Stealing The8's Name.”- fans trended the phrase on X.

“he worked so hard to establish his name and reputation for himself not for you @HYBEOFFICIALtwt to steal/ruin it.”- a fan added.

“Minghao strives to give special meaning to the stage name The8.Not allowed to be taken away.”- another fan stated.

According to Newsis, a South Korean media outlet, SYNDI8 is a short word for Synthetic, and the number 8 represents the four members CANARY, NEST, GOYO, and RAVEN.

“Make your names make sense. Eight to represent the four members? Unless the number systems have changed, that's the most stupid reason I've ever heard.”- one user said.

“Hybe should stop stealing from their current artists to make noise for their new acts. Is this becoming a habit or what?”- another fan said.

“The explanation does not even make sense so why create an unnecessary source of agitation? He’s had that stage name pre-hybe.”- a user stated.

Netizens further demanded HYBE to change the name of the girl group.

“That's straight up plagiarism wtf @HYBEOFFICIALtwt y'all should change the name???”- a fan commented.

“Do you think this is their new way of promoting, relate them to svt or any member, and its instant promotion to the new group.” - a fan said.

“At this point it seems like they’re intentionally using the8’s/svt fandom to make this new grp trending.”- a user stated.

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HYBE's new virtual girl group accused of copying SM Entertainment’s aespa for alleged similarities between SYNDI8's Canary and Karina

On June 17, HYBE's new virtual girl group, SYNDI8, unveiled the profile of a member named Canary. Netizens drew a comparison between SM Entertainment's girl group aespa and SYNDI8, as the former is widely popular for the virtual K-pop idol concept.

Furthermore, fans highlight how the fictional idol Canary and the real idol aespa's Karina, when written in Korean, are very similar. Karina is written as “카리나,” and Canary is written as “카나리.”

Moreover, Canary's MBTI was revealed to be ENFP, and her height was 168 cm, which is allegedly the same as Karina's MBTI and height. Fans took to social media to point out HYBE’s alleged imitation of aespa for the virtual group.

Meanwhile, on June 27, HYBE, in collaboration with Supertone, released the album MVP with three songs, My Fantasy, ATOTA, and True Colors, on major music platforms.