Lee Hae-rin is a City Desk reporter at The Korea Times, covering social issues, tourism and taekwondo. She is passionate about speaking up for the rights of minorities, including women, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities and animals as well as discovering the latest makgeolli trend in town. Feel free to reach her at lhr@koreatimes.co.kr.
Calls grow to stop YouTubers from profiting off malicious videos, blackmailing
YouTuber Guje Yeok, whose real name is Lee Jun-hee, appears at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in southern Seoul, Monday. He wanted to be questioned about the money he received from popular mukbang YouTuber Tzuyang over an escalating blackmail scandal, but prosecutors turned him away. Yonhap
By Lee Hae-rin
Calls are growing for the government to harshly punish YouTubers who profit from malicious videos and the blackmailing of public figures, amid an escalating controversy over popular mukbang YouTuber Tzuyang, according to lawyers and scholars, Monday.
Tzuyang, a YouTuber with over 10 million subscribers whose real name is Park Jung-won, revealed on her YouTube channel, last Thursday, that she endured years of threats and exploitation by her boyfriend, who also served as her manager.
YouTuber Guje Yeok and a group of YouTubers have continued to inflict secondary abuse on Tzuyang, who revealed that she is a victim of illegal filming and violence at the hands of her ex-boyfriend, by uploading videos that reveal future plans and positions about Tzuyang’s case.
Guje Yeok’s videos uploaded Friday and Saturday have 970,000 views and 300,000 views respectively as of 3 p.m. Monday, while other videos by Caracula, another YouTuber, on the incident garnered 3.65 and 1.58 million views.
The YouTube channel Hoverlab released recordings, Wednesday, alleging that Guje Yeok, who claims to be a “specialist in rescuing unfair situations,” and Jeon Guk-jin, an “identifier of fake YouTubers,” discussed exploiting compromising information about Tzuyang’s past.
Hoverlab claimed that Guje Yeok and Jeon Guk-jin received 55 million won ($39,000) from Tzuyang, while another recording revealed that they agreed to share part of the 3 million won that Guje Yeok received from Tzuyang with Jeon Guk-jin in exchange for not producing content about her.
In response to the scandal, Tzuyang uploaded a video on her YouTube channel on July 11, disclosing information with her attorneys.
Also known as “cyber wreckers” here, these YouTubers produce videos on online harassment, negative events and defamation without accurate fact-finding and profit off of the views and increasing subscribers.
In response to the reckless disclosures, online users criticized them. “They are committing secondary offense,” one said, while another commented, “We should not consume the video,” as the increase in the number of views leads to their profits on YouTube.
Yoo Hyun-jae, a professor of newspaper and broadcasting at Sogang University, highlighted how YouTube as a platform not only allows but encourages these YouTubers to monetize the illicit content.
"Providing financial profits to these YouTubers and giving them silver and gold buttons (according to the number of their subscribers and views) gives an implicit message to prioritize financial returns before other values,” he said.
“This can be seen as a business model based on hate speech and threatening others. There is no domestic law to regulate online content on YouTube while the number of victims (of ‘cyber wreckers’ online threat) is only increasing.”
“We need a special YouTube law to respond to cyber wreckers in Korea,” he said, referring to Germany's Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG) which implemented a law that contains strong deterrents and punishments for expressions of hate on online platforms.
Seo Hae-jin, a human rights director of the Korean Women’s Lawyers Association said, “Cyber wreckers have learned (to propagate illicit materials) through soft punishment,” adding, “The judiciary should hand down heavy punishments to those with clear charges to prevent future occurrences.”