Some K-Pop Fans Accuse EXO-Ls Of Using Illegal Methods In Voting For The Popularity Award Of The 2019 Golden Disc Awards

Some EXO fans have been accused of using illegal voting methods at the 2019 Golden Disc Awards to secure a popularity award for the K-pop group. This prompted the members of different fandoms to protest and ask the awards organizers to investigate.

According to an SBS report, the Popularity Award of the upcoming 2019 Golden Disc Awards is already tainted with controversy when some fans allegedly used some illegal methods of voting.  EXO fans are now accused of illegally creating IDs with the stolen phone numbers.

SBS also shared a screenshot of a notice posted by EXO's biggest fan club, EXO LAB, allegedly encouraging other members of the fandom to use the illegal method to vote. The club has over 170,000 followers.

The Golden Disc Awards' Popularity Award is solely based on fans' votes. Under its voting rules, fans can only vote through a specific application created by a carrier and a specific ad is provided by the application. SBS also noted that the awards organizers also put a limit to one ID per number, three votes per day per ID, and no more than three paying votes.

Apparently, BTS is on the lead for the whole voting duration and EXO is behind at second spot with hundreds of thousands of the votes difference. However, before the voting ended on December 31, EXO came really close to BTS.

Some fans who participated in the voting claimed that thousands of new IDs have been created in just a few hours to cast votes for EXO. The voters allegedly used stolen phone numbers and vote for the SM Entertainment K-pop boy group. There were also claims that the stolen phone numbers were also shared by some fandoms through SNS.

Although the voting ended with BTS garnering 42.20 percent of votes while EXO has 42.04 percent, many still raised their protest with regards to the voting process. Regardless of the result, many fans who participated in the process ask the Golden Disc Awards organizers to investigate the unfair voting as well as the stolen telephone numbers that were repeatedly used in voting.

"It was shocking that even the popularity award that is based on 100 percent fans' voting raises the fairness controversy. Do your own research to ensure that this does not happen again," one fan commented.

This is not the first time the fairness in the voting process for a popularity award in a K-pop award show has been questioned. The most recent was when Wanna One shared the Popularity Award with EXO at the 1st Korea Pop Music Awards Ceremony held on December 20, 2018.

It sparked controversy because the recognition is supposed to be given to the top group as the award is based on 100 percent fans' votes. Wanna One ranked first with over 1.57 million votes while EXO came in second with more than 1.49 million votes. At the awards ceremony, both groups were both given the same award. The 33rd Golden Disc Awards will be held on January 5 for digital releases and on January 6 for physical releases.