KTown4U & Hanteo feud over privacy concerns, fraudulent sales

It seems like there’s drama around every corner nowadays in K-pop, so maybe it’s appropriate than online store KTown4U is beefing with Hanteo Global.

KTown4U put out a statement on Twitter saying they sent sales data to Hanteo Global like always, but Hanteo Global did not update their chart to reflect those sales. When questioned they demanded personal information of customers, claiming it was necessary for verification, which KTown4U opposed on privacy grounds.

[NOTICE] Ktown4u is Committed to Protecting Our Customers' Personal Information at All Times. pic.twitter.com/GcVdSkVF2i

In response, Hanteo Global released a statement that implies they suspect sales fraud to boost numbers. They say they respect privacy and have NDAs in place

Hanteo Chart, operated by Hanteo Global, has been a part of Korea’s K-pop history, living up to its name as ‘the foundation of Korean music.’ We always strive to provide the most accurate and reliable charts.
However, we have received reports and observed indications that the data provided by Ktown4U may contain ‘data contamination,’ such as duplicated sales counts or intentional inflation of numbers. To address these concerns, we temporarily suspended the inclusion of this data and requested additional information to verify the integrity of the sales.
Hanteo Global also understands the importance of protecting personal information, so we only requested the minimum necessary details. However, because some member information was unavoidably required, we were negotiating an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) for the information exchange.
Unfortunately, Ktown4U declined our request for cooperation and instead issued a unilateral statement, which we find concerning.
As a result, we currently cannot fully trust the sales data from Ktown4U. To Include data without proper verification would not be in the best interest of our company, the artists, or their fans.
If, after going through the integrity verification process, it is confirmed that there are no issues with the data provided by Ktown4U, it will be included in our charts as expected.
For the sake of the artists who are working hard to deliver great music and performances, and for the fans who support them, we sincerely urge Ktown4U to provide accurate and reliable data.

I do think privacy rights have to be priority over sajaegi/fraud by companies, and if Hanteo are violating international law here, then that seems pretty open and shut. If it’s illegal then it’s illegal, after all, and Hanteo should be punished accordingly.

That said, I find it somewhat interesting that this just seems to be one popular shop that seems to have a problem. Perhaps more stores will come out following this, but if not, it feels like Hanteo is only taking this action because they think something’s fishy with KTown4U’s numbers in particular. Would that surprise me? Of course not, I already assume it happens, especially after the sales “boom” in recent years. That said, we really don’t know much at this stage, so I’ll try to keep up with any updates.