HYBE Issues "Warning" Over Spread of Fake News About BTS... "Claims of Streaming Plunge Are Groundless"
HYBE is currently struggling with the spread of malicious fake news targeting its affiliated idol group, BTS. According to the entertainment industry on the 3rd, an image of unknown origin containing streaming data for "SWIM," the title track of BTS's 5th full-length album ARIRANG, rapidly spread across social media platforms such as X (formerly Twitter). The image claimed that, as of the 1st, "Swim" had recorded 5,198 daily streams on Spotify—representing a drop of over 10 million streams compared to the previous day, or a 99.95% decrease. These figures spread beyond social media to stock discussion forums on portal sites, raising concerns among some investors about potential impacts on the company's stock price. However, the data was confirmed to be false. HYBE stated, "The image in question is not based on official aggregated data, and the figures themselves are unrealistic," adding, "After directly confirming with Spotify, we verified th...