Major Korean webtoon platforms including Naver Webtoon and Kakao Entertainment shut down the large Spanish-language illegal webtoon site "TuMangaOnline."
Naver Webtoon and Kakao Entertainment said on the 27th that, in cooperation with webtoon platforms and the Copyright Overseas Promotion Association (COA), they blocked the site. The move is the first case in which webtoon rightsholders directly responded overseas under local law and achieved results.
COA member companies including Naver Webtoon, Kakao Entertainment, Lezhin Entertainment, Ridi, KidariStudio, Toomics, and Topco Media took part in the response. Through their own investigation, they identified the local operators in Spain, and COA worked with local investigative agencies and the court to secure the shutdown.
The shuttered TuMangaOnline is a large Spanish-language site that has operated numerous illegal content services. According to the rightsholders, the site recorded about 86 million visits during March 2025. Based on the site analytics service Similarweb, it showed traffic at No. 327 worldwide, No. 87 in Spain, and No. 26 in Mexico. The industry estimates that damages from these sites over the years amount to at least several tens of billions of won.
After receiving complaints from Korean rightsholders, Spanish police secured related evidence through an investigation and applied to the court for a search and seizure warrant. The local court accepted this and issued the warrant, and the site was shut down as investigative authorities executed it. A formal criminal trial is expected to begin soon in Spain.
COA is responding to overseas content copyright infringement with support from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. It is continuing joint responses in cooperation with domestic and international organizations such as the Korea Copyright Protection Agency (KCOPA), the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and its affiliate ACE, and the Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA) of Japan.
Kakao Entertainment, which serves as COA chair company, has built the industry's first global anti-piracy response organization and is carrying out related activities. It also publishes a semiannual white paper on anti-piracy responses to share response strategies with the industry.
Naver Webtoon is also strengthening its response to block illegal distribution. It is advancing the AI-based blocking technology "ToonRadar" to prevent the distribution of illegal copies and delay the point of leakage.