Blue House issued an official response to the petition, rejecting the calls for the show's cancellation. The response stated that the Blue House did not intend to interfere in the production of Snowdrop, citing the protection of freedom of expression in South Korea's Broadcasting Law, which guarantees broadcasters' independence and prohibits extrajudicial regulation or interference. They recognized JTBC's previous statements about the drama plot. The response stated, however, that the Blue House was continuing to monitor the controversy, stating that "programming that violates broadcasting responsibilities, such as through excessive historical negationism or violation of regulations, are liable for a review by the Korea Communications Standards Commission," and that the Korea Communications Standards Commission would watch over the broadcasts. Post-release On December 18, 2021, the first episode of Snowdrop aired. On December 19, a new online petition to the Blue House was filed demanding that the airing of the drama be suspended. In a few hours over 80,000 people had signed the petition, and over 200,000 people had signed the petition by the end of the day. The petition reached 300,000 signatures by December 21. By December 22, there were at least 30 active petitions to the Blue House demanding the cancellation of the drama's broadcast. On December 24, a separate online petition to the Blue House was filed demanding the shutdown of JTBC for its "unconstitutional drama", which reached 30,000 signatures on its first day. By December 21, around 3,000 requests to cancel Snowdrop were posted to JTBC's website and around 740 complaints were made to the Korea Communications Standards Commission regarding the drama. On December 21, an official citizen complaint was filed with South Korea's Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission against Snowdrops screenwriter Yoo Hyun-mi and director Jo Hyun-tak for violating the National Security Act. The World Citizen Declaration, a youth civic nonprofit that supports citizens resisting government violence, filed an injunction in the Seoul Western District Court to halt the broadcast of Snowdrop on December 22. That same day, Head of JTBC Studios Jung Kyeong-moon held a meeting with The World Citizen Declaration in which JTBC Studios reiterated that it did not intend to distort history. The Seoul Western District Court dismissed The World Citizen Declaration's lawsuit on December 29, finding in its decision that even if there was distortion of history in the plot, there was insufficient evidence to show the infringement of the group's civil rights