BTS’ V and Jungkook win damages as YouTube channel ordered to pay millions of won

BTS' V, left, and Jungkook / Xportsnews

A now-defunct YouTube channel known for spreading rumors about celebrities has been ordered to pay heavy damages after courts ruled it defamed two members of the K-pop group BTS.

On Jan. 23, the Seoul Western District Court’s Civil Appeals Division ordered the operator of the YouTube channel Talduksooyongso to pay a total of 86 million won ($65,000) in damages for posting false videos about V and Jungkook.

The appellate court partially overturned an earlier ruling ordering the defendant, identified only as A, to pay an additional 5 million won each to V and Jungkook. The court said the revised damages better reflected the harm caused to the artists’ reputations.

In the original ruling in February last year, the court ordered A to pay 51 million won to BTS’ agency BigHit Music, 10 million won to V and 15 million won to Jungkook. The defendant was also required to cover interest and litigation costs. Both sides later appealed the decision.

The lawsuit stemmed from videos uploaded by Talduksooyongso, which gained notoriety in 2021 for producing content centered on unverified allegations and malicious rumors about K-pop idols. The channel has since been deleted, but it has remained a flashpoint in debates over online harassment and accountability.

BigHit Music and the artists said the videos contained false claims that seriously damaged their reputations, prompting them to take legal action in what many fans viewed as a test case for whether anonymous gossip channels could be held financially responsible.

This article from Xportsnews is adapted by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.