The administration behind the 2018 Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) has elaborated on voting manipulation and their attempts to prevent it.

Mnet held a press conference on November 26, where they addressed voting manipulation for the 2018 MAMA. Mnet’s Business Head of Department Kim Ki Woong and Music Convention Business Director Kim Hyun Soo were in attendance.

On suspicions of parts of fandoms manipulating votes for the awards ceremony, director Kim Hyun Soo stated, “We work hard to create an elaborate judging [system] every year. [This year’s system] will be based on music released from October 18, 2017 until October 31, 2018. The music will be divided into two categories, K-Pop and Asia. The K-Pop category will be judged by criteria including sales, votes, and judging from a panel including critics, reporters, producers, and those in the Music Industry Association. The Asia category will be determined by our chart partners for each region and their popular music charts.”

He added, “There have been attempts to abuse voting at MAMA every year. We’re always cleaning up the servers and responding real-time. We’re continuously on the look out for robotic attacks or abusing and are thoroughly eliminating them. As there must be fair evaluation, we are also preparing on a technical front.”

The 2018 MAMA will begin on December 10 at the Dongdaemun Plaza in Korea, continue on at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan on December 12, and will conclude at the Asia World-Expo Arena in Hong Kong on December 14.

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