Why can’t we eradicate the helpless, heartbreaking fake news?

≪Choi Ji-ye’s Epilogue≫
Ten Asia reporter Choi Ji-ye objectively and keenly points out events that have occurred throughout the entertainment industry every Tuesday. We carefully analyze the ‘glitch’ you missed from a reporter’s perspective.

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Open your eyes and cut your nose. Top star actors in the entertainment industry, including Yoo Jae-seok, Choi Soo-jong and Ha Hee-ra, Kim Yu-na and Go Woo-rim, and Baek Jong-won and So Yoo-jin, suffered helplessly. But it happens again. This time it's Hyun Bin and Son Ye-jin.

Recently, fake news has been circulating on YouTube that Hyun Bin and Son Ye-jin divorced by agreement on the 15th. The reason is more serious: Hyun Bin gambled 10 billion won in the Philippines, and due to the resulting debt, Son Ye-jin suffered huge financial losses and requested a divorce.

In response to this, both agencies waved their hands, calling it 'groundless'. Hyun Bin's agency said, "This is not true," and added, "We are constantly monitoring the rumors. We plan to take appropriate action through internal review, and we are taking it." Son Ye-jin's agency also said, "It's so ridiculous," and added, "Fake news is rampant on YouTube, so we report it every time we receive a report." He continued, "Because the fundamental solution has not been resolved, we are considering ways internally. We are examining it legally."

The agencies of celebrities who have been victims of fake news say they are "researching the law," but when you look at the reality, the pain is extremely painful. An entertainment industry official told Ten Asia, "When an artist is caught up in such ridiculous rumors, the mental damage to the artist is enormous. The expressions of killing someone with words or a pen are used in times like this," adding, "The agency is watching this happen." “It’s difficult and we can’t just watch it, so we try to find a way to fundamentally solve it, but it’s also true that we feel helpless,” he said.

According to multiple officials, in the case of fake news spread through YouTube or Instagram, the measures that can be requested from the platform are limited to deleting the fake news through reporting or banning activities for a certain period of time. These are very minor sanctions that cannot even be called mild. The fake news producer takes a short break and easily creates another fake news, and another victim arises. As there is no other legal system, the fake news problem has not been fundamentally solved and is constantly being repeated.

The core problem is that the identity of fake news producers is difficult to easily identify because YouTube and Instagram are founded in the United States. An official pointed out, "In the case of domestic platforms such as Naver and Daum, the identity of the perpetrator can be shared when the investigation headquarters requests cooperation, but it is said that cooperation in specifying the identity is not smooth for YouTube and Instagram." Since the identity of the producer of fake news cannot be identified, civil legal sanctions such as defamation are not easy.

In addition, it is also a big problem that the current law does not have specific sanctions against single-person media that produce fake news. At a time when the number of individual media players through YouTubers, Instagram, etc. is increasing significantly, it is pointed out that laws and institutions are far behind the trend. There are growing voices calling for new legal regulations for one-person media to clarify the legal status and regulations of platform operators and creators.

In the past, malicious commenters who were active through articles on domestic platforms or online communities have established one-person media platforms through YouTube and Instagram, and are attacking stars more maliciously and actively. The heartache of the stars, who have no choice but to be helpless, is only deepening.

Choi Ji-ye, Ten Asia Reporter wisdomart@tenasia.co.kr