K-pop group NewJeans is attempting to sue the anonymous user of a YouTube account for defamation, but cannot proceed without obtaining their identity.
NewJeans filed an ex parte application in late March in the Northern District of California, where Google is headquartered, for an “order authorizing limited discovery” of the user’s data from the company “for use in a criminal matter in Korea,” the order granting the application states. The group alleges that the account, which according to court documents posts under the handle @Middle7, has posted as many as 33 defamatory videos that had been viewed nearly 14 million times as of their filing. Because the account is anonymous, however, the lawsuit cannot continue until the user has been identified.
Among the statements NewJeans claims are defamatory include calling one of the members the “eldest daughter of a Vietnamese farmer,” and a video titled “Reasons Why NewJeans Is A Crap Group.”
Google also recently cut down its Legal Investigations team, which handles the company’s responses to subpoenas and law enforcement requests, by what a union representing some workers alleged was over a third of the less-than-100-person team, though a Google spokesperson later clarified that less than a dozen positions had been impacted.
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