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Twitter responds to fake copyright claims that took down ARMY and official BTS accounts

A Bangladeshi Facebook group is attacking BTS and their fanbase accounts on Twitter for 'gay and atheist' content by filing fake copyright claims

Since the past couple of days, ARMY have been noticing that popular BTS fan accounts on Twitter have been taken down on claims of copyright issues, violation of Twitter rules and other policy violations. It became obvious that trolls were taking advantage of Twitter’s DMCA option when BTS’ own verified official account was also taken down. The BTS World account had 5.5 million followers and was an actual account of the K-pop group. However, with it being suspended, fans realized that Twitter was not doing anything to control the fake DMCA claims.

Twitter’s copyright complaints are filed under DCMA which means the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. It allows a user to take down media posts and accounts if there has been a copyright infringement. After five or six DMCA strikes, the account in violation is suspended. Since 2016, it has been easy to file a DMCA complaint since the application does not require a lot of personal information. On November 18, ARMY tried to trend the matter so that Twitter would take action regarding fake complaints.

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Fanbases and BTS Twitter accounts targeted

Along with the official BTS World Twitter account, ARMY fan accounts were also getting suspended or, in some cases, selective posts and media were being taken down with the notification that the owner had filed a report. Fans found out that some of the people responsible for the fake copyright complaints are a group titled Team Copyright on Facebook. They mentioned that they were Bangladeshi and were reporting BTS accounts for promoting “gay and atheist” content and for being a “toxic fanbase”. Fans started trending #TwitterMaliciousDMA and #TwitterFakeCopyrights. We also had Bangladeshi fans trying to get in touch with the cyber police to take action.

Finally, on November 19, Twitter responded to some of the complaints. They returned the BTS World account as well as some of the fanbase accounts. One of the fanbases shared a screenshot of their email with Twitter which said that the social media platform would be looking into the fake DMCA complaints. Unfortunately, there are still many fanbases whose posts are still down because of these fake copyright claims. On the other hand, ARMY got the Team Copyright group taken down on Facebook. At the same time, fans are frustrated with the harassment and physical violence being perpetrated against ARMY in Bangladesh for liking BTS.

'Leave BTS and ARMY alone'

Upset fans made tweets like, “This is what im thinking too... we have seen armys accs back, but is the REAL ISSUE being dealt with? or is it only short term actions to basically shut the complaints for nw? Bcause it's the twitter system who keep allowing these FAKE DMCA claims approved.” Another ARMY warned, “DO NOT let your guard down & absolutely DO NOT trust liars not to lie. All of their actions & gaslighting  are characteristics of a textbook abuser in relationships. This is just a tactic to keep people obedient. Expect them to launch more attacks.”

One fan celebrated the small victory, “So good to see all these attacked accounts back Even if the whole process still may be flawed tho.” Another angry fan added, “What does gay and atheist fans have to do with that ? How did they become toxic for being born as that? Can these Bangladeshi cult men leave bts and armys alone . I even want hybe to know about this situation.”