Kakao Entertainment Blocks 14.2 Million Illegal Contents Worldwide... Publishes 3rd White Paper

Kakao Entertainment has published its third white paper, detailing its achievements over the past six months. Using proprietary illegal distribution data construction and blocking technology, it removed approximately 14.2 million illegal items, a 112% increase compared to the second white paper.

Kakao Entertainment announced on the 11th the release of the ‘3rd Illegal Distribution Response White Paper,’ following the first and second editions. From November last year to May this year, about 14.2 million illegal webtoons and web novels were blocked across major global search sites and social media platforms. This figure represents a 112% increase from the 6.88 million cases reported in the second white paper (April to November 2022). Based on this achievement, the estimated total number of illegal items removed this year is expected to reach approximately 28 million.

This result is the culmination of a database (DB) of global illegal sites and communities independently built over the past three years, along with proprietary blocking technology know-how. In 2021, Kakao Entertainment became the first in the industry to launch a dedicated global illegal distribution response team, P.CoK (Protecting the Contents of Kakao Entertainment). From 2016 to the first half of 2023, the company has independently cracked down on 24 million illegal items.

The crackdown system has also expanded beyond illegal webtoons and web novels. For example, unauthorized secondary works such as illegal character goods or printed materials using Kakao Entertainment IP were included in the targets. Illegal web novel publications sold on Amazon were removed, and the sale of IP-infringing T-shirts by printing companies was prohibited. Furthermore, to ensure uninterrupted copyright protection measures, comprehensive monitoring was conducted not only on illegal sites but also on official global webtoon and web novel platforms.

Efforts were also made to improve copyright awareness, which is fundamental to solving illegal distribution issues. In January, the P.CoK team visited Indonesia and conducted in-depth interviews with six illegal site operators and users. Following this, a pledge ceremony to eradicate illegal activities, held with the interviewees, garnered about 20,000 responses on Twitter. A model case was established when an illegal site operator posted on their website stating, “Kakao Webtoon will no longer be illegally translated, and webtoons should be consumed on official sites.” In March, offline education on raising awareness about eradicating illegal distribution was conducted at the Kakao Webtoon Indonesia Brand Supporters launch event. Over two months, 25 brand supporters uploaded around 600 pieces of content across various social media platforms to highlight the seriousness of illegal distribution.

Over the past three years, P.CoK has made various efforts to eradicate illegal distribution, including the industry’s first criminal complaint against the operator of Booktokki and large-scale global copyright awareness campaigns alongside global illegal content blocking activities.

Lee Ho-jun, head of the Legal Office at Kakao Entertainment, overseeing illegal distribution response operations, stated, “We plan to continue publishing white papers to share our know-how on illegal distribution response with the industry. We will also continuously advance our crackdown system to eradicate global illegal content that seriously threatens the creative market and protect creators’ rights.”

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