Naver Webtoon announced on the 7th that it represented the domestic content industry by presenting technical responses and achievements for copyright protection at the APEC international workshop 'Approaches and Strategies for Tackling Illegal Streaming' held at the Songdo Convensia in Incheon.
Kim Gyu-nam, Chief Risk Management Officer (CRO) of Naver Webtoon, explained the current status of illegal webtoon sites domestically and internationally, saying, "Illegal sites continue to evolve, so relying only on traditional methods such as monitoring followed by deletion, legal action, and takedown notices has its limits." He emphasized that "technical responses are essential to overcome the limitations of existing methods," introducing Naver Webtoon's illegal distribution response technology 'ToonRaider.'
Naver Webtoon has independently developed the 'ToonRaider' system, a technology that inserts invisible user identification information into webtoon images to identify and block the original illegal leakers. This system has been used since July 2017 for tracking illegal webtoon reproductions both domestically and internationally and is continuously being advanced. Recently, it has focused on enhancing machine learning technology to proactively capture signs of illegal reproduction activities and block suspicious accounts.
Kim noted, "The closure of illegal sites must lead to the punishment of operators to be truly final," emphasizing that as the global influence of the webtoon industry grows, responding to overseas illegal sites has become a significant issue. To address this, strong cooperation between nations and severe penalties from judicial authorities are essential.
Naver Webtoon is exploring various measures to strengthen its response to overseas illegal sites. Earlier this year, it became the first Korean corporation and the only one in the webtoon and web novel platform category to join the global copyright protection organization ACE. ACE is a global copyright protection organization under the Motion Picture Association (MPA), and it is one of the most influential organizations in the world regarding responding to illegally distributed content. Major media and entertainment corporations worldwide, including Netflix, Amazon, Apple TV+, Universal Studios, and Walt Disney Studios, are members.
Naver Webtoon attended the 'Asia-Pacific Anti-Piracy Summit' held in Singapore in July as a member, learning about various member companies' strategies for addressing illegal sites. It plans to participate in the '2025 ACE Global Meeting' to be held in Los Angeles, USA, in September.
Starting in 2023, it has become the first in the industry to assume all expenses on behalf of creators to pursue subpoena actions through U.S. courts. The subpoena action system allows copyright holders to request the submission of personal information of members suspected of copyright infringement from service providers in cases of copyright violations based on the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Through this, Naver Webtoon has achieved the cessation of activities of over 150 illegal sites in 2024 and over 70 in 2023. It is continuing the subpoena actions this year.