Kakao Entertainment Blocks 2.25 Million Cases of Illegal Webtoon Distribution Worldwide

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Kakao Entertainment has blocked 2.25 million cases of illegally distributed webtoons over the past five months, preventing damages worth 265 billion KRW from illegal distribution.

Kakao Entertainment's global illegal distribution response task force (TF) published a white paper on the 7th detailing these achievements and future plans. The white paper contains data on achievements such as discovering and blocking over 2,000 global illegal search keywords. The global illegal distribution TF plans to carry out various online and offline activities, including opening social media (SNS) accounts, to eradicate illegal distribution that causes enormous damage to creators.

The Kakao Entertainment Global Illegal Distribution Response TF was established in November last year to eradicate illegal distribution, which seriously undermines creators' earnings and creative enthusiasm. Dedicated personnel monitor and request deletion of illegal translated posts and illegal content in English-speaking, Chinese-speaking (Simplified/Traditional), and Indonesian language regions, while systematic and strong local responses are also being led by the Korean headquarters.

In fact, from November 24 last year to April 23 this year, the global illegal distribution response TF achieved significant results in eradicating illegal distribution over five months. Monitoring global search sites such as Google, Yandex, and Bing for about 800 major works, they detected a total of 2,247,664 illegal items. Based on this, the estimated amount of damages prevented for creators reached 264.6 billion KRW.

Approximately 2,000 English, Chinese, and Indonesian keywords were directly discovered and registered on search sites to block searches. The number of illegal distribution blocks on major SNS platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram also reached a total of 111,889 cases, a 255% increase compared to before the TF was deployed.

They listed and reported famous illegal translation groups and servers within SNS, known as hubs for illegal distribution, leading to actual shutdowns. The global illegal distribution response TF filed about 100 reports against large-scale Indonesian webtoon illegal distribution groups active on Telegram, and reported about 30 illegal translation SNS servers with over 100,000 participants including translators and members, resulting in the closure of some servers.

Along with these achievements, the global illegal distribution response TF published a white paper of about 60 pages containing additional improvement directions. This is to establish close cooperation with global copyright organizations, domestic and international investigative agencies, and administrative bodies based on systematic data. The TF continues discussions with the Copyright Overseas Promotion Association (COA), the Webtoon Industry Association, and related government departments to eradicate widespread illegal distribution domestically and internationally.

Additionally, on this day, the Twitter account P.CoK, exclusively operated by the Kakao Entertainment Global Illegal Distribution Response TF, was launched. This Twitter account will receive real-time illegal distribution reports from users, promote Kakao Entertainment’s various illegal distribution eradication activities, and continue communication with creators and readers concerned about illegal distribution.

Lee Hojun, Head of Legal Affairs at Kakao Entertainment and leader of the Global Illegal Distribution Response TF, said, “Due to the TF’s active monitoring and reporting, the number of translation groups declaring ‘we will not do illegal translations’ and global readers saying ‘we will not view illegal content’ is increasing. We will continue to expand the TF’s monitoring language regions and actively work to eradicate illegal distribution to protect creators’ rights and the globally expanding webtoon market.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.