[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Kakao Entertainment, which formed the industry's first task force (TF) to respond to illegal distribution of webtoons and web novels, has published the 2nd Global Illegal Distribution Response White Paper covering the achievements in combating illegal distribution from April to November this year, following the release of the 1st white paper.
Kakao Entertainment aims to eradicate global illegal content threatening the creative market through the TF, which is building a leading industry model for responding to illegal distribution, while sharing know-how on combating illegal distribution with the industry through regular white paper publications.
Kakao Entertainment published the '2nd Illegal Distribution Response White Paper' on the 7th, detailing eight months of achievements since April this year, including blocking approximately 6.88 million illegal contents on major global search sites and social networking services (SNS), deleting 1.05 million illegal contents in China, and shutting down Telegram channels used for domain announcements of large illegal distribution sites.
The 2nd white paper, totaling 77 pages, expands beyond the webtoon-focused 1st white paper by adding specialized eradication activities related to web novels, as well as systematic and robust local responses through the establishment of a crackdown system in China.
The Kakao Entertainment Illegal Distribution Response TF was established in November last year to eradicate illegal distribution. It operates personnel by language zones including English, Chinese, and Indonesian, conducting monitoring and real-time deletion of illegal content, and shares response methods with the industry suffering from illegal distribution through white paper publications. The first white paper released in June included achievements over five months since the TF’s establishment, such as blocking 2.25 million illegal webtoons, discovering and blocking over 2,000 global illegal search keywords, and blocking approximately 110,000 illegal contents on SNS.
Over the past eight months, the Illegal Distribution Response TF has blocked a total of 6,879,537 illegal contents across all language zones. It monitored global search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yandex, as well as SNS platforms including Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Various illegal sites and search engines like Baidu, which were not included in the 1st white paper, were added to the monitoring targets.
Based on the database of illegal sites in China, a crackdown system was established in the Chinese-speaking region, which had been difficult to police, resulting in the blocking of 1,040,900 illegal contents in China. The TF also infiltrated Telegram channels used for domain change announcements of major domestic illegal sites such as ‘Booktokki’, leading to the closure of a channel with about 1,800 members. Due to the TF’s aggressive crackdown activities, global distribution groups illegally translating 'Manga' (Japanese comics), 'Manhwa' (Korean comics), and 'Manhua' (Chinese comics) have publicly pledged not to illegally translate or distribute Manhwa anymore.
The 2nd white paper also includes systematic response activities related to web novels. In July, Kakao Entertainment conducted a large-scale evidence collection operation on 2,500 web novels on the illegal site Booktokki and, for the first time in the industry, filed a criminal complaint against the operator of the illegal web novel distribution site. Additionally, domestic and international illegal groups and global illegal sites that translated and distributed numerous web novels for profit were reported and blocked.
The ‘Illegal Distribution Reporting Channel’ set up on Twitter is also becoming more active, with users supporting the eradication of illegal distribution through retweets. In July, a preventive illegal distribution eradication campaign was conducted globally, including Kakao Webtoon Thailand, with 123,704 global users participating through declarations against illegal sites, likes, and comments.
The Illegal Distribution Response TF plans to protect and nurture the creative ecosystem in a leading role in the industry by regularly publishing white papers and expanding cooperation with related organizations such as the Copyright Overseas Promotion Association (COA), the Webtoon Industry Association, and overseas investigative agencies.
Lee Hojun, Head of Legal Affairs and TF Leader at Kakao Entertainment, said, “Illegal content secretly distributed on domestic and international illegal sites and SNS cannot be fully detected and preemptively blocked by technological measures such as AI alone; therefore, complex and systematic crackdown activities must be strongly accompanied. We hope that the white papers and TF activities containing this know-how will have a positive impact on the industry and ultimately benefit creators.”
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