Sulli reportedly sought help from her label, SM Entertainment to pursue legal action against online bullies bombarding her with malicious comments.
Per All Kpop, a source revealed to the Busan Report that Sulli was having a difficult time dealing with malicious comments and constantly called on her agency to take action in dealing with these abusive netizens.
The report indicated that Sulli made the request through her manager since she was constantly being bullied online. SM Entertainment, then, announced that they will pursue legal remedies against malicious commenters in 2018. However, as the agency followed up on their investigation, they traced the IP address of the abusive commenter to a foreign country. This posed a serious problem to their plans to prosecute the offender.
Following the incident, there were no more announcements made by the label on Sulli's case. It was reported by some outfits that the continued abuse led Sulli's depression before her death. Sulli was found lifeless in her home by her manager on Oct. 14 but police are still investigating if it was a suicide.
SM Entertainment is now on the receiving end of criticism from netizens who felt like they did not do enough to protect Sulli from online bashers. There are also suggestions to make adjustments on the way labels manage their artists to make sure that they are given proper attention.
It can be recalled that another SM Entertainment artist, Jonghyun of SHINEE took his life at the age of 27 because of severe depression. Jonghyun was known to be close to Sulli as well.
After Sulli's death, netizens are now starting multiple petitions to punish those who left hate comments against the former f(x) member and pushed her to death, Koreaboo reported.
The petition sought to change the law to impose more severe punishment for those who leave abusive comments online. The description cited Sulli and Jonghyun's case since both artists suffered from depression because of the hateful and malicious comments they received.
Another petition sought to require online commenters to use their real names to hold them accountable for all of their online behavior. The petition cited that revealing the real name of the user on the internet is essential to protecting others.
With this move, it will also be easier for authorities to track those who leave malicious and abusive comments online so that they may be held liable for defamation.
