K-Pop Group Asks U.S. Court for Help Finding YouTube User in Defamation Case

As a result, people have flocked to those platforms because they believe they can hide, Chong said.

“Most of the victims of defamation who have come to me for advice have because of YouTube,” he said in an interview, adding that the platform was a “blind spot” for the authorities seeking to uproot users who defame stars while profiting from their videos.

Chong obtained information about an anonymous YouTube account that Starship Entertainment had accused of defamation, insult and business obstruction. In one example, the YouTuber appeared to use South Koreans’ negative perceptions of China to spread a rumor that Jang Won-young, a South Korean member of IVE, was Chinese, Chong said. Using that information, Chong won a civil suit against the YouTuber in South Korea.

The YouTuber, a woman who was not named by the South Korean authorities, argued that the claims were truthful and made in the public interest, Chong said. But the woman was ordered to pay Jang, one of her main targets, damages of 100 million South Korean won, about $74,000, in a civil case. The YouTuber appealed, Chong said.

“The defamation and insulting resulted in mental distress,” he said.

In the NewJeans case, the members of the band filed a criminal complaint against the YouTuber with a police station in Seoul. But the case could not go forward because the YouTube account was anonymous, according to the filing.

Eugene Kim, the lawyer for NewJeans, wrote that he had asked Google, which operates YouTube, for information about the YouTube account. After he was unsuccessful, he filed the motion with the court in California under a federal statute that allows people to obtain documents needed in a foreign proceeding.

Seamus Hughes contributed research.