Webtoon Giant Sounds the Alarm! Shady Pirates are Laughing All the Way to the Bank – Ridiculously Light Penalties for Illegal Sites!

Things are heating up at Kakao Entertainment! IP Rights Chief Park Jeon-Sung (name unconfirmed) revealed in an interview with Dailian how his hardcore anti-piracy task force, P.CoK, is cracking down on illegal webtoon and web novel distributors.

Park, the head of the IP team, leads P.CoK, which Kakao considers its "elite team of experts at the forefront of the fight against digital piracy." In the Dailian interview, Park stated emphatically, "When Kakao Entertainment confirms that a particular site is infringing on its property and needs to be shut down, it reacts in a four-stage process. The information we obtain through this process contains various clues and patterns, so it is crucial to form hypotheses and verify them, not just through mechanical analysis. I believe the know-how and experience accumulated here distinguish us from the responses of domestic and foreign content companies."

Secret Weapons Against Data Thieves! How Kakao Tracks Down Illegal Downloads!

Back in 2023, Kakao let the cat out of the bag and revealed some of its tricks against pirates: "Watermarking, image recognition, and analysis of usage patterns." An international espionage team uncovers the various aliases used by illegal copies in different countries. According to Kakao, "Content pirates often change the name of a title and hide it in private, invitation-only communities, frequently using multiple names." Apparently, Kakao's detectives even infiltrate these secret circles!

Other major players like Toho and Aniplex also rely on watermarks to track down their streaming hits "Demon Slayer" and "Jujutsu Kaisen" before they are even released on X (formerly Twitter).

They even went to court to obtain the identities of X users. WEBTOON hides invisible codes in its works, which are tracked down with the high-tech tracking software "Toon Radar."

Park emphasizes that P.CoK also takes action against malicious merchandise fakes. Because if a product's global cash cow is milked in advance, it "could undermine the sustainability of the entire content industry."

Scandalous Verdict! Pirate Boss Laughs at Tiny Punishment! Kakao Demands Tougher Laws Now!

Just recently, the boss of the mega-piracy site Ajitun was once again sentenced to a ridiculous two years in jail and a paltry fine of around $50,000. Park fumes:

"While there are legal mechanisms to punish copyright infringement, the penalties for operators of illegal websites are light, and measures to block sites are easily circumvented, so the problem persists. It is necessary to introduce a system for punitive damages and to strengthen the system for confiscating criminal proceeds by improving the Copyright Act and the Information and Communications Network Act."

Kakao Entertainment is a giant player in the Korean webtoon and web novel business. Hits like "Solo Leveling" and "Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion" run through KakaoPage and its English-language sister, Tapas. The parent company, Kakao Corporation, also operates Piccoma in Japan, the absolute leader among digital manga and comic services in 2023.

Multi-Million Dollar Lawsuit Against Google! Kakao Takes Drastic Measures Against Content Thieves!

In addition to high-tech methods, Kakao Entertainment is also firing on all cylinders with legal power. They are using Google's DMCA forms to the max – a staggering hundreds of millions of times (ranked 6th worldwide in December 2024!). On a single day (April 29, 2024), an unbelievable 7.4 million URLs were reported for deletion.

The latest figures from April 7, 2025, still show a hefty 2.2 million reports. Anyone who wants to delve deeper into the subject can check out Kakao Entertainment's annual Anti-Piracy Reports. The brand-new sixth edition (still secret!) from February reveals how Kakao is now also targeting web novel pirates.

Since last year, Kakao has also been in the Google Trusted Copyright Removal Program (TCRP) – which means lightning-fast deletions of thousands upon thousands of illegal sites!

Google Transparency Report – Kakaopage has reported 413,153,820 URLs for copyright infringement.

Kakao is not afraid of hefty lawsuits and cease-and-desist declarations either – the makers of the popular open-source manga reader Tachiyomi learned that the hard way.

The Verdict is In! Only Harsh Punishments Can Stop the Content Mafia!

Park Jeon-Sung's words paint a bleak picture of online robbery. Despite state-of-the-art technology and international cooperation, the ridiculously lenient penalties for operators of illegal sites and the ease with which blocks are circumvented remain a mockery of all creative people.

The urgent demand for punitive damages and better ways to confiscate criminal proceeds shows that legislation finally needs a jolt!

Only when the pirates really bleed does the content industry have a chance for a fair future.

Source: Dailian