South Korean entertainment company SM Entertainment has issued a warning against rumour mongers. The label, which is home to prominent K-pop artistes, released a statement notifying about the stringent actions for those trying to invade the privacy of their artistes.
The warning apparently comes after the news of EXO D.O.'s departure from the group spread online like wild fire. In the official note released on 7 October, the agency revealed that the malicious rumours and other pernicious invading activities are harming the artiste's psychological health.
The label stated: "Recently there have been repeated offenses of our artists' personal information being leaked and stolen as well as other acts causing serious damage. On and offline acts of spreading rumors, circulating false information, leaking and stealing personal information, invasion of privacy against our agency's artists, artists' families, and artists' acquaintances are expanding, thus material and psychological harm inflicted from these acts is at a serious level."
Threatening stringent action, SME further relayed: "We have decided that we can no longer tolerate and remain a spectator regarding these acts and will take strong legal action against invasions of privacy and other illegal acts in order to protect our agency's artists."
Furthermore, a report from Allkpop revealed that one of the largest online communities experienced a downfall in their posts following the warning note. The report stated that the category named Male Celebrities saw a drastic change in their posts going down from 5,162,390 to 3,906,349.
Currently, SM Entertainment houses many stars naming - BoA, TVXQ, Super Junior, Girls' Generation, SHINee, f(x), EXO, Red Velvet, NCT, and other artists.
