NAVER WEBTOON Shuts Down Three Illegal Global Webcomic Sites Through International Cooperation with Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and INTERPOL

Three illegal English-language webcomic and comic distribution sites taken down, with combined annual traffic exceeding 130 million visits

Following successful takedowns in Vietnam, international enforcement efforts expanded to North Africa, strengthening global copyright protection

NAVER WEBTOON, a wholly-owned Korean subsidiary of WEBTOON Entertainment Inc., announced on August 13 that it has taken down three illegal global English-language webcomic and comic distribution sites and secured the arrest of their operator, through international cooperation with Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, INTERPOL, and local law enforcement authorities in North Africa.

The three sites, which were operated by the same individual and based in North Africa, illegally distributed content, including Korean webcomics, to users primarily in the United States and Europe. According to data from the analytics platform Similarweb, the three sites recorded more than 130 million visits combined over the past year. Visits over the past three months prior to their shutdown exceeded 20 million, highlighting the significant scale of the copyright infringement and the damage caused to the global webcomic industry.

The sites were found to have scanned and translated more than 300 popular NAVER WEBTOON titles without authorization. By shutting down these sites, which served as upstream sources of unauthorized scans and translations, NAVER WEBTOON disrupted the flow of pirated content to secondary distribution sites.

The team identified efforts to evade enforcement when several previously operating sites were consolidated and rebranded under a new site. NAVER WEBTOON worked with Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, INTERPOL, and local law enforcement authorities to take action against the sites, resulting in the shutdown of all three sites and arrest of the site operator, who is subject to legal proceedings.

Kim Kyunam, Chief Risk Officer (CRO) of WEBTOON Entertainment and NAVER WEBTOON, said, "This action is significant not only for shutting down a large-scale illegal distribution operation, but also for cutting off the primary source that distributed self-made scans and translations and leading to the arrest of the operator." He added, "Illegal webcomic sites infringe on creators' legitimate earnings and hinder the growth of the global webcomic ecosystem. We will continue to strengthen cooperation with investigative agencies and relevant organizations in each country to protect creators' rights and the value of their work."

NAVER WEBTOON continues to strengthen global copyright protection through its dedicated anti-piracy organization, Anti-Piracy, which monitors illegal sites and unauthorized content, collects evidence of copyright infringement, and cooperates with investigative authorities in Korea and abroad. The company is also advancing its proprietary anti-piracy technology, Toon Radar, which tracks unauthorized reproductions, helps identify sources of leaked content, and enables the proactive blocking of illegal distribution.