News
Kakao Entertainment Report States It Blocked 240 Million Cases of Piracy in 2nd Half of 2024
posted on by Wonhee Cho
Kakao Entertainment, the parent company of webtoon platform Tapas, released its 6th Anti-Piracy White Paper on February 25, marking a significant expansion in its efforts to combat the illegal distribution of intellectual property (IP). The latest white paper introduces the industry's first comprehensive anti-piracy system for web novels in addition to webtoons, highlighting the company's evolving strategy to protect its digital content more effectively.
According to the white paper, between July and December 2024, Kakao Entertainment's Global Anti-Piracy Task Force (P.CoK) blocked approximately 240 million piracy cases worldwide. This included significant advancements in monitoring web novel piracy, leveraging its Trusted Copyright Removal Program (TCRP) partner status with Google, and cracking down on illegal secondary derivative products.
Additionally, in December 2024, the team successfully tracked down and shut down an illegal English-language web novel piracy website it called "W." It also targeted unauthorized translations, illegal uploads on e-commerce platforms, blogs, and open community platforms that distributed pirated web novels in North America.
Although the number of blocked illegal copies in the 6th white paper (240 million cases) was 10.9% lower than in the 5th white paper (270 million cases in early 2024), the decline is attributed to the shutdown of major piracy sites. Notably, in August 2024, P.CoK successfully shut down a major South Korean illegal webtoon site named "A," which significantly contributed to the overall reduction in illegal distribution. The report underscored that shutting down piracy websites is crucial for long-term prevention, reaffirming Kakao's ongoing focus on tracking and dismantling illegal sites.
Further contributing to the decrease in illegal distribution, P.CoK also shut down an Indonesian piracy site named "M" in September and dismantled a Brazilian illegal translation group (also known as "M") in October. To date, P.CoK has successfully closed down 14 major piracy sites across various language markets, including English and Arabic.
Kakao Entertainment's piracy takedown efforts were also reflected in Google's Transparency Report. As of December 2024, Kakao Entertainment ranked sixth globally in copyright-related removal requests, with the total number of takedowns increasing by 74.5% from 211 million cases (April 2024) to 368 million cases (December 2024). This translates to an average of 20 million monthly takedowns over eight months.
Source: Kakao Entertainment press release (English version available here)
