Ever since the MHJ/Nwjns thing reddit and kpop twitter have decided HYBE is the root of all evil. Chart manipulation, media play, mistreatment, obsession with other companies, controlling narratives, etc. But if you actually look at whats come out SM has literally been exposed for doing exactly the things people accuse HYBE of. Media manipulation: SM literally hired a PR firm to create fake online narratives during their feud with HYBE. They made viral posts, spread anti HYBE talking points and had articles talking bad about HYBE groups, (not just the company) and tried to frame HYBE as ruining groups after takeovers. This is documented. Undermining other groups: Nate from American Hustle Life said he was told not to work with BTS because they were just a “filler” group and to focus on EXO instead presumably by SMs side. That’s the level of arrogance they had even back then. This was 2014. Obsessed with other companies energy: People love to say HYBE is obsessed with SM groups but SM literally created SuperM with the whole “the Avengers of Kpop” concept just to compete with BTS internationally and knock them down. Like they built an entire supergroup specifically to challenge BTS' success. Mistreatment of their idols: I mean, do I really have to elaborate this one? Also the whole 'stanning HYBE the company' thing but SM literally has a company fandom name: PinkBloods. They literally branded and marketed corporate stanning. Wheres the talk about that? Make it make sense. Then theres this whole “every K-pop subreddit is run by HYBE stans” narrative. If you want to see a real case of company stans running a subreddit go check out noir. That place is basically SMs PR department. If you stan a HYBE or YG group dont even bother joining. youll be treated like youre working hand in hand with Netanyahu for liking BTS or Blackpink. Meanwhile SM groups get away with murder there. Thats an actual example of a subreddit run by corporate stans. And people love to claim uncensored is full of HYBE stans but come on. Every negative and positive post about basically anything gets deleted there. if you look back at posts like Sugas scooter incident, or LSFs vocals controversy it wasnt “HYBE stans” driving those hate trains. It was, as usual, SM group fans front and center. I was literally there when the reporting wars started. It began with Bunnies mass reporting every negative post about Min Hee Jin and NewJeans and every positive post about LSF or ILLIT. I watched the sub shift in real time. So yeah maybe its run by fans of a HYBE group now but ironically the ones who pretend they arent. At the end of the day everything people accuse HYBE of, SM has actually done. Yet somehow HYBE gets treated like its uniquely evil and I genuinely dont think its because of HYBE itself. The intensity of the hate just doesnt make sense otherwise. Its not normal for a company and their artists to get this much emotional reaction unless theres something deeper behind it. And if were being real that “something deeper” is probably BTS. HYBE exists at this scale because BTS built it from nothing and for a lot of people thats still hard to swallow. It flipped the whole Kpop hierarchy that the Big 3 had defined for decades. Suddenly the “underdogs” became the standard. So now every frustration people used to feel about BTS, the overexposure, the awards, the western success, the cultural shift etc. gets projected onto HYBE and its other groups. Its easier to say “HYBE ruined Kpop” than to admit the landscape changed because BTS did what no one thought possible. Thats why the rage feels so personal. Its not really about HYBEs business moves or even their artists. Its about what BTS represents. But I am open to having my mind changed if you feel there is a different reason. submitted by /u/thebarted [link] [comments]
