Starship Entertainment has issued an official statement in light of the Supreme Court's ruling earlier this week, confirming a suspension sentence plus a fine and community service hours for YouTuber channel Sojang, who spread false rumors about IVE's Wonyoung.
In the statement, the agency ensured that it would continue to pursue legal action against cyber wreckers using anonymity to defame artists under Starship Entertainment. You can read it below.
"Hello. This is Starship Entertainment.
For some time now, our company has been involved in both civil and criminal lawsuits against the operator of the YouTube channel Sojang (Tal-deok Camp) over the distribution of false information, malicious slander, and acts of defamation targeting our artists.
Then, on January 29, 2026, the South Korean Supreme Court finalized its original judgment for this case.
Originally, the district court ruled that even if unverified information is packaged as speculation or the raising of suspicions, it constitutes the dissemination of false content if the overall context leads it to be perceived as fact. The court further judged that the reputation and the personal rights of celebrities must also be protected. The Supreme Court confirmed this judgment, seeing no misinterpretation of existing laws.
Starship Entertainment places the protection of our artists' rights as our top priority, and thus, we will continue to take strong legal action without leniency or settlement against all illegal acts, including the spread of false rumors, slander, defamation, and infringement of personal rights.
In particular, we intend to pursue all possible legal measures, including criminal complaints, against so-called cyber wreckers who use anonymity to spread fake news or induce cyberbullying through videos and short-form content.
Furthermore, we will continue our ongoing monitoring and legal efforts to prevent similar offenses from recurring.
Finally, we would like to express our deepest gratitude to everyone who supported the protection of our artists' rights by providing data and unwavering encouragement throughout this process. We are deeply thankful to the fans who always cherish and support our artists, and we will do our best to create a healthy online culture in the future.
Thank you."
Meanwhile, IVE will release their 2nd full album 'REVIVE+' on February 23 KST. A pre-release single, "Bang Bang", is scheduled to drop on February 9 at 6 PM KST.
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