Naver Webtoon Suspends Operation of Over 70 Illegal Overseas Webtoon Sites Through Summons Measures

Naver Webtoon announced on the 26th that it has halted the activities of over 70 illegal webtoon sites overseas through the issuance of subpoenas via U.S. courts.

Last year, Naver Webtoon was the first in the industry to take subpoena action, shutting down the operations of more than 150 illegal webtoon sites. The subpoena action is based on the U.S. DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act), which allows copyright holders to request service providers to submit personal information of members suspected of copyright infringement when such infringement occurs on online services.

Additionally, Naver Webtoon shares all information that helps track illegal webtoon site operators with investigative agencies.

This time, Naver Webtoon issued subpoenas to one major Content Delivery Network (CDN) and two domain registration agencies. As a result, about 70 illegal webtoon sites have been confirmed to be either completely deleted or temporarily suspended. The annual user visit traffic of these 70 affected illegal webtoon sites is reported to exceed 1.3 billion visits.

As part of the creative ecosystem support program 'WebtoonWith,' Naver Webtoon is taking various measures to protect the creative ecosystem and minimize damage to creators caused by illegal webtoon sites.

Notably, Naver Webtoon developed 'ToonRadar,' a technology that embeds invisible user identification information into webtoon images to identify and block the original illegal leakers. This technology has been used since July 2017 to track illegal webtoon reproductions domestically and internationally.

Last month, Naver Webtoon filed a lawsuit seeking damages totaling 1 billion KRW against operators of illegal webtoon and web novel sites.

Kim Gyu-nam, Vice President (CRO) of Naver Webtoon, stated, "Naver Webtoon will continue the relentless fight against illegal webtoon and web novel sites worldwide based on a strict zero-tolerance policy," adding, "We will spare no effort or investment to protect the creative ecosystem."