These Idols’ YouTube Channels Were Seemingly Hacked, But Here’s What Really Happened
On June 8, several K-Pop YouTube channels were seemingly compromised when their video titles were replaced with “comical” yet disrespectful captions regarding other groups. One such channel was (G)I-DLE’s channel, which was hacked with the message “no one likes racists, stan LOONA!” A link to LOONA’s official YouTube channel was included.
OH MY GODDDDSD Y’ALL HAVE TO BE KIDDING THIS IS INSANEEEE SJSVSISHSJSVSOSBSKSBJ GOODBYE pic.twitter.com/Je31ITWcf2
— 〄 (@skinnyhyun) June 8, 2019
“Stan LOONA” has become somewhat of a meme in and of itself, being plastered all over social media, yet some fans took this as a major sign of disrespect towards (G)I-DLE. (G)I-DLE, however, was not the only group to be affected. MAMAMOO, CLC, Cube Entertainment and more were also victims of these edited video titles.
This also happened to clc, I'm just…out of words. You are trash.This is not even funny pic.twitter.com/ffc46MpwgM
— Latte (@windsmagnolia) June 8, 2019
The editing of MAMAMOO’s captions took an even darker turn when one such caption mentioned a suicide pact.
And here are they again. This time I recorded the screen because some people keep saying the captures were photoshopped. Just leave us alone please. I’m sad because the girls might see this :( pic.twitter.com/aKBbZozc92
— Latte (@windsmagnolia) June 8, 2019
One of the culprits came forward and apologized in a caption on one of the videos, but didn’t take responsibility for all of the title changes. Most likely, others also caught on to what was being done and took the opportunity to participate.
— Aulding (@loonerdworld) June 8, 2019
Another fan figured out exactly how the “hackers” did this and it turns out it wasn’t hackers at all. The people responsible simply took advantage of YouTube’s “Community” feature. Much like V LIVE’s fan-made subtitles, YouTube offers fans the ability to subtitle content into different languages for international fans as long as the channel itself allows it.
YAWLL maybe it not a hack , its the community feature , fans can translate the title , description and captions for the video to help international fans . when you put your language setting to kr it goes back to the original . this is the CLC rla vie en rose title all over again! pic.twitter.com/D3pHz4iOAo
— marcus (@ctfuloona) June 8, 2019
When used properly, this tool is a godsend for international fans who don’t speak Korean when a company doesn’t upload different language subtitles themselves. Sadly there are those who would take advantage of such a generous provision from K-Pop companies, likely messing it up for other fans in the future. So far none of the companies involved have spoken up about the issue, and most if not all of the original titles have been restored.
