Kakao Entertainment accused of spreading negative news around competing idols

Kakao Entertainment, South Korean entertainment, mass media, and publishing company, under Kakao Corp has been thrust into the spotlight after reports emerged around its ownership of Facebook page “Idol Issue”. MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Kakao Entertainment for a statement. A quick check also found that the page has changed its naming to “Idol News” rather than “Idol issue” and has over 784K followers. 

The page is known for updating content related to Korean entertainment industry including news, rumours and controversies, according to Allkpop. However, since the emergence of news of ownership, netizens are starting to question if the company has been using the Facebook page for “viral marketing” purposes against the rival idol groups to ultimately benefit artists under Kakao entertainment. Kakao is associated with a number of entertainment agencies such as IST Entertainment, Starship Entertainment, EDAM Entertainment, Flex M, High UP Entertainment and Antenna.

This has drawn heated discussions as many netizens questioned whether the company has been using the Facebook page for “viral marketing” purposes against the rival idol groups to benefit artists under Kakao entertainment, according to the report.  Controversial posts include "LE SSERAFIM's new styling choices draw conflicting reactions", and "New stage outfits for ITZY draw mixed reactions" which reportedly made it seem as though there were issues faced by the idols.

Kakao Entertainment’ parent company Kakao Corp has also been under a lot of pressure in recent years. Last month, Reuters reported that its co-CEO Namkoong Whon resigned as it looked to calm public sentiment over its massive outrage which left many without access to a wide range of services. In 2010, KakaoTalk first launched in Korea and to date it has over 47 million active accounts in South Korea. Since establishing its presence, like many other superapps in the region,  the platform has moved into areas such as advertising, games, payments, mobility  and the likes. 

The outage occurred as a fire damaged Kakao's main data center. This also led to many looking for alternatives, and questioning the nation’s reliance on the app.

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