On August 29, one Korean Instagram account @travelholic_insta — dedicated to introducing popular tourist destinations in Korea and around the world…
… shared a post about Daegwallyeong Sheep Ranch, nestled by the mountain pass on the eastern side of Korea.
Unfortunately, among the slides of pictures and videos uploaded, the account ended up including a pornographic clip — shocking its substantial follower base of 1.2 million people.
Go on a good day and the view is better than in Switzerland. To be exact, this place is even better in the fall when it’s cooler outside. So put this place on your bucket list and go!
— Instagram @travelholic_insta
The said clip, according to those who witnessed, seemed to be a part of an illegally-filmed (molka, “hidden camera“) pornographic video. Though @travelholic_insta acted quickly and deleted the post almost immediately, some followers caught the slip and raised serious questions at the account.
Hours later, the account uploaded its first (of many) apology — accompanied by a seemingly irrelevant sunset picture.
[Official Apology] Hello, this is Travelholic. We apologize for the inappropriate video that was uploaded to our feed around 6PM today. We’re sorry for making our followers uncomfortable with the post. Without making any excuses, we admit that we failed to be careful with what we share. We caused an inconvenience to the followers and to the person who shared the destination. Again, we strive to be a page that encourages traveling. We apologize to everyone who became disappointed in us because of this incident. To make sure this doesn’t happen again, we will manage our account, devices, and content more thoroughly.
— Instagram @travelholic_insta
The rather non-existent explanation of what actually happened only frustrated the followers more:
As for the clip in question, regarding whether it had been illegally filmed, it turned out to be a downloaded video. Nonetheless, we apologize for having been in possession of such a video. We will penalize the person who downloaded the video as per our company policy and make sure this does not happen again. We apologize.
— Instagram @travelholic_insta
With that said, the account’s followers heavily criticized it for “trying to downplay the size of the incident” by suggesting that the clip is not filmed by the uploader. As more Korean press began covering the incident, @travelholic_insta took down the initial apology and shared a second, more formal version of the same explanation.
Hello, this is Travelholic. First, we’d like to sincerely apologize to everyone we’ve offended with our recent inappropriate content upload. On August 29, around 6PM, we included an allegedly illegally-filmed pornographic clip as one of the slides introducing the sheep ranch. We deleted the post immediately. We want to clarify that the clip is not illegally-filmed by the uploader. It was downloaded from the internet. In the process of uploading the post without being careful, we caused this incident. To get a better understanding of what happened, we will be getting legal consulting. Again, we understand that owning such a video is as illegal as filming one. We are also aware of the legal penalties involved with the action. The person who uploaded the post with the video will be reported to the authorities for further questioning. We apologize for everything. Here’s what we’ll be doing from now on to prevent this from repeating: One. We’ll share everything with our followers regarding what the authorities say. Two. We’ll provide additional sexual harassment prevention training and awareness sessions on top of the ones required by law. Finally, we will temporarily shut down all channels on all platforms until this matter has been genuinely resolved…
— Instagram @travelholic_insta
Since the several attempts at apologizing, the account owner and CEO of Travelholic, Jo Jun Ki, announced his resignation after admitting that he uploaded the said post in question.
Hello, this is Travelholic’s CEO Jo Jun Ki. First I apologize for what has happened. I’m the one who uploaded that post about the sheep ranch. I have no excuses. The video, I downloaded from Twitter. I did not film it. Also, the people in the video are both men. Regarding this, I will be tried in the court of law for the fact that I was in possession of the video. I will also resign from my position as CEO at the company, for having caused an immense amount of trouble. Again, I’m sorry for everything. I apologize to my employees who have been affected by this as well.
— Jo Jun Ki, Instagram @junki_jo
Regardless, the followers are voicing extreme disappointment at how the account handled the incident. Many are pointing out that neither the account nor the CEO has apologized once to the “victim” in the allegedly illegally-filmed-and-circulated clip. One comment criticized, “This account has no idea what it did wrong. It keeps apologizing for having uploaded the video. It should be apologizing for ever having needed to watch it. The feed is only sorry that it got caught and that it lost followers. The dumbest apology to have ever been written, really.”
- “I’m disgusted by those who download illegally-filmed videos. They are as nasty as the ones who film. They’re all illegal. He should be considered a criminal.”
- “There goes my follow…”
- “As per company policy my a*s. Possession is also a crime.”
- “The fact that he watches such videos is nasty… but the fact that he downloaded it to keep on his device? It’s actually f*cking insane.”
- “Yeah, whatever. I’m unfollowing.”
The account is rapidly losing its followers who are unconvinced by the apologies.
- “I see they’re opting for the staying on the down low until it blows over strategy… LMAO. These f*cking lunatics.”
- “I’m disgusted by the fact that they deleted their first apology. I’m also disgusted by the fact that the first apology came with a sunset picture to match the overall theme of the feed.”
- “Why did he download such a video…? It’s disappointing to say the least.”
- “As per company policy? Who the hell do you all think you are? Get your a*s to court and face the law.”
- “This is insane… I’m unfollowing. Why did they delete their apology? I don’t see it on their feed.”
- “Pornholic, you mean.”
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Source: Koreaboo
