Popular Fourth-Gen Group’s “Payola” Achievement Criticized Amid BTS Comparisons
TREASURE is facing backlash after their latest achievement sparked accusations of “payola” and fake views, drawing comparisons to BTS.
TREASURE recently dropped their new track “IF I,” which quickly hit a major milestone. The music video became the fastest by a fourth-generation K-pop group to surpass 100 million views, doing so in just under 12 days.
TREASURE’s “IF I” became the fastest M/V by a 4th generation k-pop group to surpassed 100M views.
- TREASURE “IF I” – 11 days 22 hours
- I-DLE “Nxde” – 17 days 15 hours
- aespa “Savage” – 17 days 19 hours
- I-DLE – “QUEENCARD” – 18 days 6 hours
— lui ꣑ৎ (@kyutmkpttp) June 13, 2026
The controversy began when netizens accused YG Entertainment of using ads to inflate views, a tactic the agency has been criticized for before. Fans pointed out the huge gap between views and likes on the video, suggesting the views were not organic.
Not a single yg group is organic im cryinggg
— . (@sabrinatozakis) June 14, 2026
No shade to treasure cause i admit i like three of their songs but reaching 100m views in a short time, not even 1m likes and zero noise outside of teumes bubble just proves it’s all ads.
— Izzy∞⁸ (@LizJJY) June 15, 2026
No offense, but yg gotta stop with the payola. I’ve never heard of this song, and for the sake of the groups make it less obvious
— tali ೀ (@yunbabz) June 13, 2026
Ads working overtime, not even 500k likes and barely 10M streams on Youtube, I’m crying
— mey (@whotfisepipen) June 13, 2026
I will never understand the need for kpop stans to brag about views that are very clearly bought with ads
— fae ཐི༏ཋྀ saw skz!!! (semi-ia) (@hyunjinshairbnd) June 15, 2026
Fans also compared TREASURE’s stats to BTS’s “Swim,” noting the massive difference in likes despite similar view counts. Many argued this proves TREASURE’s views were boosted through ads rather than genuine fan engagement.
The likes difference is wild af
— 𝑨𝒓𝒊-𝒉𝒉𝒉⁷ (@yourglosssy) June 15, 2026
As the situation unfolded, the accusations of payola continue to cloud TREASURE’s milestone, raising questions about the authenticity of their rapid rise in views.