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 attention. As a tvN Monday-Tuesday drama, it achieved high viewership rates nearing 8%. Consequently, at the 5th Blue Dragon Series Awards held on the 31st of last month, the drama swept major awards, including Best Supporting Actor (Yoon Kyung-ho), Popular OST Award (IVE's An Yu-jin), and the prestigious 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 Korea Professional Baseball (KBO) games, TVING successfully turned a profit in the second quarter. According to CJ ENM's financial results announced on the 6th, TVING's Q2 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, public outrage erupted among netizens.

This was 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 verification 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 established 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 leak is estimated at 19.53 million people. This ranks as the fourth-largest personal data breach in Korea, following incidents involving Coupang, SK Telecom (017670), and PsyWorld (Nate).

Moreover, with compensation plans for affected users still unannounced, TVING's decision to offer reward vacations for "The Legend of the Cook" further fueled public anger. TVING is expected 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 anticipated, including administrative penalties and fines related to the data breach, which may be recognized as third-quarter expenses.

Netizens expressed their fury with comments such as: "They leaked customer information and now send the team on a relaxing vacation? Are they out of their minds?", "After leaking customer info, they've been quiet until now", "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 information and staying silent, let alone promoting this with articles like this — I'm furious!", "Do you think this will just blow over? It's ridiculous.", "If you have money to spend, at least compensate those whose data was leaked", "They're celebrating among themselves while ignoring victims. Just provide compensation!", "Sending celebrities on reward vacations while leaking customer personal data is unacceptable." "I'm so angry. They should kneel and apologize for their mistake. Why are they partying just 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 the Coupang incident? It's just slipping by unnoticed", "'The Legend of the Cook' team did well, but what exactly did TVING do right?", "I'm furious. Why is this being swept under the rug?", "I signed up to watch 'The Legend of the Cook' and immediately got hacked", "Compensate me for my leaked data," and more, unable to contain their anger.

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*This content was translated by AI.