Samsung Shuts Down Official Website, Blogs Days After Unveiling Galaxy S8, S8+

In a shocking turn of events, Samsung shut down its official website and blogs days after holding its Unpacked event where it unveiled its new flagship phones, the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8+. Reports say this is part of the aftermath of the corruption scandal that hit the South Korea giant recently.

On Monday, Samsung Group, the parent company of Samsung Electronics, ceased the operations of its official website and blogs. The affected sites basically served the purpose of advertising the conglomerate’s history and philosophy, as well as the activities of Samsung’s affiliates. Hence, the move is perceived by many as the company’s first step toward improving its public image, as first reported by Korea Herald.

Samsung’s www.samsung.com website is still up, but visitors are automatically redirected to the Samsung Electronics website when they try to access it. As for the rest, they are currently inaccessible. An example to this is Samsung Village, the company’s blog detailing its history and other activities.

READ: Samsung Galaxy S8+ prototypes found to have dual cameras

The shutdown is reportedly a direct effect of the corruption scandal that led to the closure of Samsung Group’s corporate strategy office back in February. Samsung was apparently involved in the controversy that caused the impeachment of South Korea President Park Geun-hye and the arrest of the conglomerate’s heir, Lee Jae-yong.

Ever since the strategy office was dismantled, Samsung Group has not decided on how its CSR operations should move forward, according to a Samsung official. “We are still discussing whether to scrap all CSR activities or to transfer them to other affiliates,” the official added.

SamMobile reports that Samsung will resume the operations of its recruitment website, however, some changes are taking place. Instead of having group-wide recruitment events that are typically scheduled twice a year, the affiliate companies have decided to organize separate recruitment drives on different dates.