Although piracy is more prevalent than ever, anti-piracy groups are retaliating against these threats in full force. There have been some incredible victories in the fight against piracy in the anime, manga, and manhwa industries lately, and the most recent occurred in South Korea regarding an illegal webtoon website.
Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism was responsible for investigating and shutting down the popular webtoon website for good, noting copyright infringement in the website's content. MCST's efforts led to the closure of multiple websites, including webtoon and illegal streaming sites.
MCST Just Shut Down Three Major Illegal Piracy Websites in South Korea
These Illegal Webtoon and Streaming Websites Were Closed on the Grounds of Copyright Infringement
As reported by Anime News Network, Korea's MCST just closed down the website "Nunu TV," which was the largest perpetrator of illegal streaming piracy in Korea. "OKTOON" and "TVWiki" were also taken down at the same time, as they are considered "sister websites" to Nunu TV and also posted similar stolen content such as webtoons and illegal streaming content. MCST took immediate action against all three websites on the grounds of copyright infringement, since none of these platforms had the legal rights to post and make money off of the webtoons and other content on their respective pages.
In the press release posted on MCST's official website, they announced that the person responsible for running Nunu TV has been arrested and the websites' landing pages have been changed. When visitors log on to these websites now, they will be met with a copyright infringement notice explaining why the websites were removed and are now unable to be accessed. Webtoons in particular have faced a great deal of piracy lately, but groups like MCST and Japan's Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA) are cracking down on the issue relentlessly by fighting for website shutdowns such as these three.
Other Anti-Piracy Groups Like CODA Are Taking Action Against the Piracy Issue as Well
Brazil’s Largest Piracy Website Was Just Closed Down for Good, Along With a Handful of Others
In other recent anti-piracy news, CODA enjoyed a major piracy victory in Brazil against illegal pirates as well. The anti-piracy group discovered and retaliated against 15 piracy websites, including rine.cloud, which was one of Brazil's largest distributors of this illegal content, amassing a whopping 2.74 million visitors on average monthly. Although these pirating websites use sneaky tactics like IP blocking or using legitimate s' s to gain access to the content, anti-piracy groups have still been able to bring an end to these unlawful practices. Through careful investigations, these organizations have made a serious dent in the number of piracy websites available.
Watch Out: Japan Is Spending $2 Million on AI to Squash Anime Piracy
Japan is finally taking the initiative to squash anime piracy for good with plans to develop an AI-powered piracy detection system worth $2 million.
Piracy is not just a problem in the manwha and webtoon industries, anime piracy is also extremely widespread right now. Major animation studios like Toei Animation Co., Ltd., Toho Co., Ltd., and Bandai Namco Filmworks Inc. have become involved in the fight against piracy to protect their most popular franchises from being illegally stolen and accessed on these websites. Google itself even delisted billions of URLs when requested by VIZ Media, proving that companies are unafraid to push back against the threats that these illegal websites pose and keep the industry a safe and fair place for creators' work to be appreciated.
Source: Anime News Network, MCST
