[Trans] [Exclusive] BigHit Seeks to Identify the Leaker Behind BTS's ARIRANG Album... U.S. Court Grants Discovery Request

Information about the first comeback album following the members' military discharge was leaked in advance... BigHit requests the user's identity through a U.S. court.

After X relocated its headquarters, the company refiled the case in a Texas court. "The user must be notified firs."

BigHit Music, an agency under HYBE, recently won approval from a U.S. court for its discovery seeking to indentify the individual responsible for leaking BTS's full-length album, ARIRANG. While K-pop artists have increasingly turned to U.S. courts to uncover the identities of so-called "cyber wreckers" and anonymous social media users overseas, this is the first publickly known case in which such a request has been granted by a Texas court rather than a California court.

According to an investigation by Sisa Journal on August 14, the U.S. District Court for the Western District to Texas granted BigHit's discovery request against X (formerly Twitter) on August 5. As a result, BigHit can now seek information identifying the operator for the account in question, including their name, date of birth, address email address,and phone number. The company may also obtain access logs and IP addresses recorded after January 1, 2026, as well as information regarding the owner of any payment methodss registered to the account.

Earlier this year, in early March, an account called "BTS ARIRANG LEAKED (@j*******)" appeared on X and leaked unreleased songs, lyrics, concept artwork, and cover images ahead of the release of ARIRANG, BTS's first full-length album in approximately six years. In response, BigHit Music filed a discovery request with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on April 9 to identify the account's operator. Following the complaint, the posts were deleted, and the account's username was changed.

According to Sisa Journal, BigHit later voluntarily withdrew its application in California and refiled it in Texas after X argued that jurisdiction should be transferred because the company's headquarters had moved from California to Texas. However, X did not object to the discovery request itself.

Although the Texas court approved BigHit's request, it attached  two conditions: first, X must notify the account holder within 10 days of being served that their information has been requested; second, both X and the account holder may file motions to modify or quash the subpoena within 21 days of service or notification. This approach differs significantly from previous cases in California, where such matters were often handled without input from either the platform or the account holder.

Furthermore, the Texas court explicitly stated in its ruling that "it is well established that an author's or publisher's decision to remain anonymous online is protected under the First Amendment."However, the court also noted that it was unnecessary to rule on that issue at this stage because there was no evidence that the account holder was a U.S. citizen or even located within the United States. In other words, while the court recognized the legitimacy of the discovery request for the purpose of overseas litigation, it left open the possibility for the account holder to challenge any issues involving freedom of expression and online anonymity.

Meanwhile, BigHit has previously stated that, once the identity of the X account operator is confirmed, it intends to file a civil lawsuit in a Korean court on the grounds of copyright infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets, and breach of confidentiality obligations.

Original article: Sisa Journal