The police investigation into potential vote manipulation in ‘ProduceX101’ is currently progressing. It was announced that they will look into all of the preceding seasons of the show. Not only ProduceX but also Show Me the Money and Superstar K are on the table waiting for possible expansion of ongoing investigation.
On August 2nd, the Police stated in an open press conference hosted in the Seoul Metropolitan Agency, “We are currently investigating Produce X 101 and also looking into whether there were any unlawful practices in the seasons 1 until 3.”
The police has conducted search and confiscation of the Mnet office located in Mapo Gu, Seoul, and the companies that keep the text voting data on July 31st. They have obtained related information through search and seizures that were conducted twice. If the original raw data shows evidences on manipulations, ‘how’ and ‘why’ these findings were made will be scrutinized.
ProduceX101 Fact Finding Committee has first claimed possible text voting manipulation in Mnet’s Audition program called “ProduceX101”. They also filed a lawsuit against Production team last month.
The Committee argued that the number of votes each trainee had gained showed suspicious patterns. It was in the live broadcast where Project Group X1 was being elected on July 19th. They claimed that the number gap between two trainees in a consecutive ranking showed 29,978 identically in five cases. Also, the number 7,494 or 7,495 repeated four times, they said.
The case was allocated to the sixth criminal department in Supreme Prosecutors’ Office. All other seasons including Produce 48 are also causing suspicions in a ballot rigging.
Furthermore, Show Me the Money and Superstar K, audition programs aired on Mnet, are also going to be scrutinized.
