[citation needed] The site's userbase is often described as having an alt-right, anti-feminist, anti-immigrant, and anti-LGBT stance,[1][2][3] with elements of manosphere culture.
[citation needed] The original website called Ilbe was launched by Moe-myeongsu (모에명수; 모에名手) in July 2009 as an archive of the DC Inside TV comedies gallery.
In November, he retired from running the site and left it to the users active at the time: Bucheo (부처) and Sae-bu (새부, from 새침부끄; Saechim-bukkeu).
[11][12] In 2016, when the Park Geun-Hye scandal happened, the site's audience reduced significantly, going from 700,000 daily viewers in September to 520,000 in December.
[citation needed] An account can be created with just an email address; the site doesn't require any documents or an ID number for registration, unlike other Korean websites.
skates, a slur targeting Jeolla people) and eomuk (어묵, derogatory term used to refer to Sewol ferry disaster victims) from the Basketball gallery.
[citation needed] Users are known for redacting well-known logos of organizations like universities, government structures, large private companies, as well as movie posters, and then adding tiny hints consisting of Ilbe's initials, Roh Moo-hyun's face, and other memes.
Out of 12 major community websites in South Korea, only Ilbe and DC Inside possessed a right-wing political leaning.
[18] The site's ideology is sometimes described as "rationalism" by its proponents, treated as a countermeasure against alleged left-wing propaganda,[19] specifically false information about the right.
Users also created the label Unji (운지; 隕地, composed of hanja characters meaning 'to fall' and 'ground', a reference to Unjicheon [ko] beverage promotion clips).
It was initially used to refer to Lee Myung-bak, who purportedly planned to restore the title, and then it was used for Park Chung Hee (원조가카; 元祖閣下; wonjogaka; lit.
The term 갓카; gaska, with 갓 being the Korean transliteration of the English word God, is also used to imply the president possesses omnipotence.
[citation needed] Despite the South Korean government's official recognition of the Gwangju Uprising as a democratic movement, Ilbe's userbase is extremely critical of it.
[28] Users label some journalists, like Monthly Chosun's former chief editor Cho Gap-je, as jwappal (좌빨; '[pro-North Korea] leftist') due to their support of the uprising.
[35] In 2013 conservative magazine Shindonga released a special section to criticize Ilbe, describing it as "close to fascism rather than normal right-wing" and "antisocial".
A notable case was when the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) requested that Ilbe regulate its problematic content that was "harmful for teenagers".
He released information from the KCSC, including hundreds of submitted complaints about harmful content on the site promoting suicide, crime, drug usage, sexism, and violence, as well as defamation and discrimination against left-wing politicians and the Jeolla region.
[47] Conservative Saenuri Party member Kim Jin-tae raised controversy when he accessed the site with his laptop during a parliamentary inspection at the National Assembly.
On 28 November 2013, the first trial was conducted for defamation committed by a user who injured the honor of a Gwangju Uprising victim by describing a photo of his coffin as a "cash delivery".
He confirmed his employment at the company by uploading his photo on Ilbe under the title "Titty Party" and commented, "Sometimes I suck this feeding bottle when I miss female breasts so much".
[62] In August 2017, Gi Maeng-gi, author of the Naver webtoon My ID is Gangnam Beauty, filed a misdemeanor complaint against an Ilbe member for making malicious posts about her and her feminist views on the site.
The offending individual later posted a copy of the complaint on Ilbe under the title "I was sued by a webtoon writer", and he accused the prosecutor of being biased.
[65] A user confirmed his participation in the vandalism by uploading his photo online with sexually degrading comments against the original writer of the poster.
[69] Ha Tae-keung, at the time a member of the conservative Saenuri Party, described Ilbe users who committed such vandalism as "losers".
[73] In September 2014, when the parents of the victims of Sewol ferry disaster protested with public hunger strikes, over 100 Ilbe users went on "binge eating" events in front of them.
[23][74] In January 2015, an Ilbe user posted a photo of himself in a Danwon High School uniform eating eomuk fish cakes.
[78] On 22 November 2013, a student of Kangwon Provincial College and self-proclaimed Ilbe user, sexually harassed a female Buddhist monk on Twitter with comments about her virginity.
Three days later, the monk Hyo-jeon asked for follow-up action from the president of the college, but the user didn't apologize and continued to insult her.
[81] In October 2018, an Ilbe user uploaded a photo of an elderly naked woman in a post titled "32-year-old Ilgay saved his pocket money and ate 74-year-old Bacchus grandma" (32살 일게이 용돈 아껴서 74살 바카스 할매 먹고 왓다).
[84] In November 2018, an Ilbe user uploaded erotic photos of a girl in a post titled "Girlfriend proof" (여친인증; 女親認證; yeochin-injeung).