"We are committed to holding the perpetrators accountable"—HYBE files legal complaint against those who leaked and traded its artists' flight details

On Tuesday, June 18, HYBE released a statement explaining that they had filed a complaint against individuals who illegally leaked and traded their artists' flight information. While specific details about the artists were not revealed, they indicated that the police had received the complaints and initiated investigations.

The case has now proceeded to prosecution. The incident reportedly took place last year, and HYBE has been gathering the required information and evidence for the complaint since the second half of last year. With sufficient data collected, legal action will soon fall into place.

Here's part of the statement that HYBE released regarding this issue:

"We are committed to holding the perpetrators accountable until the end, adhering to a zero-tolerance policy, and responding sternly to acts of crime that commercialize and trade artists’ personal information, without entering into any agreements or making favorable arrangements."

HYBE expressed that their artists' privacy and boundaries had been violated due to the incident, and similar instances have been occurring from time to time. Therefore, to protect their artists and hold the individuals accountable for their illegal actions, a complaint was filed.

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HYBE files complaint against individuals who illegally obtained its artists' flight information: Statement explored

HYBE Labels addressed the fact that there have been several unlawful acts involving individuals illegally obtaining and working around their artists' flight information. These instances include stalking the artists, taking non-consensual pictures of them while boarding the same flight, or even canceling their reservations in some cases to disrupt their schedule.

"There have been frequent cases where some have gone far as arbitrarily changing artists’ seats and in-flight meals or canceling their flight reservations, causing disturbances to their schedules," the label added.

Therefore, to prevent the same, they have organized a special task force to protect their artists from privacy violations regarding their flight information since September 2023.

Here's how the agency stated they proceeded with the legal action, collective evidence, gathered required data, etc.:

"Before taking legal action for personal information breaches, we identified a number of social media accounts that were illegally selling our artists’ flight details online and gathered evidence to identify the operators."

They continued to explain the grounds for their legal action:

"We filed complaints against these accounts for violating the Personal Information Protection Act among other regulations, and actively cooperated with the investigative agencies. Based on the submitted evidence, the investigative agencies conducted long-term domestic and overseas investigations."

HYBE continued:

"In May, they identified suspects, including those presumed to be foreigners, and conducted additional detailed investigations. The suspects are accused of profiting tens of millions to hundreds of millions of won from selling artists’ flight ticket information through social media channels over an extended period."

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They concluded their statement by expressing that they have implemented procedures and systems to prevent such instances from reoccurring in the future. They further introduced a set of relevant procedures in cooperation with airlines and travel agencies to ensure their artists' security and protection.