A Small Number of Users Responsible for Most Malicious Posts
Suspicious Patterns in Malicious Comment Activity
"Hope to Reveal Whether MBK and Youngpoong Are Connected"
Korea Zinc has requested the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency to investigate a group that continuously posted organized defamatory comments against the company and its top executives, spreading false information and damaging their reputation.
On the 13th, Korea Zinc stated, "Unknown individuals posted content with the intent to defame our company and top executives in the large portal stock discussion boards and article comment sections during the public tender offer period (September 13 to October 23 of last year), spreading false information and damaging our company's reputation." They announced that they have submitted a request for investigation to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency for defamation under the Information and Communications Network Act.
After analyzing the malicious posts on the stock discussion boards, Korea Zinc revealed that several notable findings were confirmed. A small number of authors accounted for a significant portion of the total posts, with the top two authors reportedly responsible for more than 25% of all posts. Korea Zinc also pointed out that unlike typical online community activity, which is usually active during evening hours, these comments were predominantly posted during working hours in the daytime.
Furthermore, the top three users accounted for about 40% of all negative keyword usage, indicating a concentration on specific individuals. Posting patterns such as multiple authors using the same IP address were also discovered. Korea Zinc explained, "This strongly suggests that someone intentionally engaged in organized activities."
Similar patterns were observed in the article comment sections. The top five users who posted the most malicious comments each wrote between 30 to 50 comments, with activity concentrated during late night and early morning hours, showing a pattern contrary to typical community behavior, according to Korea Zinc.
A Korea Zinc official said, "MBK and Youngpoong, in their attempts at a hostile merger and acquisition (M&A) of Korea Zinc, repeatedly distorted facts and became subjects of complaints for allegations such as market manipulation and fraudulent unfair trading, using any means necessary to succeed in the hostile M&A. We hope the investigation will clearly reveal whether MBK and Youngpoong are connected to these comment groups."
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