Singer and actress IU (Lee Ji-eun) has initiated direct legal action through a U.S. federal court against perpetrators hiding behind the anonymity of overseas social media platforms to churn out malicious rumors.

According to an exclusive Dispatch report on the 20th, IU's side filed a legal application for discovery (28 U.S.C. §1782) against Meta in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on the 15th. This is a measure to compel Meta to submit subscriber information (such as name and connection IP) for a Threads account held by Meta, using the authority of the U.S. court in order to identify the defendant in a defamation civil lawsuit currently underway in Korea.

The specific target is the user of the Threads account '@7h***'. This account is accused of spreading 52 false facts from March to October of last year. The criminal acts detailed in the application reach an antisocial level. Going beyond simple allegations of plagiarism, they made immoral false claims that she used deceased fellow celebrities for marketing. Furthermore, they circulated extreme conspiracy theories claiming that specific IU songs ('Strawberry Moon', 'Pporappippam' / *Note: 'Ahpuh*) mocked the Itaewon crowd crush and the Sewol ferry disaster.

It was also confirmed that they indiscriminately posted false information claiming she is an agent of Chinese capital and theories of public opinion manipulation. (In the case of the plagiarism allegations, defamation was already recognized in a separate trial in 2024, resulting in a 30 million KRW damages ruling.)

This action is expected to serve as a critical precedent against 'cyber wreckers' and malicious commenters who have exploited the blind spot where domestic investigative agencies find it difficult to search and seize platforms with overseas servers. IU's side also proceeded with simultaneous criminal and civil lawsuits against 96 people last February, and is enforcing a zero-tolerance principle, such as a suspended sentence of 1 year in prison with 4 months of actual imprisonment handed down to one malicious commenter last May.