19.53 million people's personal data leaked, compensation plan still pending... TVING faces backlash for supporting 'The Legend of the Cook' overseas reward vacation [Star Issue]

*This content was translated by AI.

OTT platform TVING is facing widespread criticism after offering overseas reward vacations to the cast and crew of "The Legend of the Cook" amid a massive personal data breach affecting 19.53 million users.

On the 7th, TVING announced news about an overseas reward vacation for its original drama "The Legend of the Cook" (hereinafter referred to as "Cook").

"The Legend of the Cook," released earlier this May and starring "million-viewer actor" Park Ji-hoon, sparked significant public interest. As a tvN Monday-Tuesday drama, it achieved high viewership rates nearing 8%. Consequently, the drama made headlines at the 5th Blue Dragon Series Awards held on the 31st of last month, winning Best Supporting Actor (Yoon Kyung-ho), Popular OST Award (IVE's An Yu-jin), and even the Grand Prize for Best Work.

Additionally, "The Legend of the Cook" contributed to TVING ranking first overall in paid subscriptions.

Thanks to the success of original content like this and live broadcasts of the Korea Professional Baseball League (KBO), TVING successfully turned a profit in the second quarter. According to parent company CJ ENM's financial results released on the 6th, TVING's second-quarter revenue totaled 140.7 billion won, with an operating profit of 6 billion won. Compared to the same period last year, revenue grew by 40%, and the company achieved a turnaround from loss to profit.

Following this news about the "Cook" team's reward vacation, it only angered netizens further.

This is not the time for TVING to celebrate with champagne. After all, TVING caused a major personal data breach in June. Personal information including members' IDs, names, dates of birth, gender, phone numbers, email addresses, CI (linked information), DI (duplicate registration confirmation information), and refund account numbers were leaked.

The Ministry of Science and ICT classified TVING's personal data breach as a "serious security incident" and has formed a joint government-industry investigation team to examine the cause and scale of damage.

According to the government investigation, the scale of TVING's personal data breach is estimated at 19.53 million people. This ranks as the fourth-largest personal data breach in Korea, following Coupang, SK Telecom (017670), and PsyWorld (Nate).

Moreover, with compensation plans for affected users still unannounced, TVING's decision to support reward vacations for "The Legend of the Cook" team has drawn public outrage. TVING plans to reveal its compensation plan sometime between September and October.

Although TVING achieved its first quarterly profit since its launch, it remains uncertain whether this positive trend will continue through the second half of the year. Financial burdens are expected due to administrative penalties and potential fines, which may be recognized as third-quarter expenses.

Netizens expressed their anger with comments such as: "They leaked customer information and now give reward vacations? Are they crazy?", "After leaking customer data, they're acting quiet?", "Personal data breaches seem to pass without consequence. Why so quiet?", "What about compensation for the leak?", "It's absurd that they're leaking the most critical customer data and staying silent, let alone promoting this as a success story.", "Do you think this will just blow over like nothing happened? This is ridiculous.", "If you have money to spend, at least compensate those whose data was leaked.", "They're celebrating among themselves while ignoring compensation. Just do it!", "Sending celebrities on reward vacations while leaking customer data?", "This is so infuriating. They should kneel and apologize for their mistake. Now is not the time to party because a drama succeeded. I've never seen a company act this way after such a severe data breach.", "Now that I think about it, why doesn't this feel like Coupang's situation? It just slipped by unnoticed?", "'The Legend of the Cook' team did well, but what exactly did TVING do right?", "This is so frustrating. Why are they letting this slide?", "I joined to watch 'The Legend of the Cook' and immediately got my data leaked.", "Compensate me for my leaked data," among others, unable to contain their fury.

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*This content was translated by AI.