Spanish piracy giant toppled in win for Korean webtoons

Naver webtoon logo / Courtesy of Naver webtoon

A coalition of Korean webtoon publishers has secured the shutdown of one of the world’s largest Spanish-language piracy networks, marking a rare and significant legal victory for the country’s digital comics industry in its increasingly aggressive global battle against copyright infringement.

The Copyright Overseas Promotion Association said Monday that it had successfully coordinated with major platforms — including Kakao Entertainment and Naver Webtoon — to dismantle TuMangaOnline and its affiliated sites. The network had long been accused of illegally distributing Korean content across Spain and Latin America, profiting from a growing international appetite for the vertical-scrolling digital comics known as webtoons.

The shutdown was executed by Spanish judicial authorities following an investigation triggered by formal complaints from Korean rights holders. It represents the first instance in which Korean companies have directly pursued legal action under Spanish statutes to successfully shutter an overseas piracy operation.

The scale of the network was substantial.

According to an internal analysis by the industry group, the network’s primary domains, which included TuMangaOnline and Lectormanga, drew approximately 86 million visits in March 2025 alone. At its peak, the traffic volume of these illicit sites rivaled that of leading mainstream Spanish-language news outlets in markets such as Spain and Mexico.

Officials said the investigation involved years of digital forensics to track the operators, who were believed to be based in Spain. Evidence gathered by the industry coalition enabled local law enforcement to obtain search and seizure warrants, which ultimately incapacitated the servers and disrupted the network's monetization channels. Criminal proceedings against the operators are currently underway in Spain.

Industry leaders noted that while digital piracy remains a persistent hurdle for the "K-content" export model, the Spanish ruling provides a template for future public-private cooperation in international jurisdictions. Given the sophisticated nature of modern piracy, which often utilizes offshore servers and encrypted communications, the association characterized the victory as a critical milestone in protecting the intellectual property of Korean creators on a global scale.

This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.