134 creators file criminal complaint against illegal webtoon site Newtoki, calling it 'organized cybercrime'

A total of 134 creators harmed by illegal webtoon and web novel sites Newtoki and Booktoki filed a criminal complaint with the Korean National Police Agency on Thursday and held an emergency press conference outside the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.

The Korea Digital Content Creators Association, known by its Korean acronym Hankonchang, characterized the case not as a simple copyright violation but as organized cybercrime and urged authorities to conduct a rigorous investigation.

The association and the affected creators timed the filing to coincide with the domestic extradition of the operator of Manamoa, another illegal content site.

They called on the Korean National Police Agency to immediately investigate the Newtoki operator and to thoroughly examine the relationship between Newtoki, Booktoki and Manamoa — including advertising revenue flows, accomplices and facilitators, pathways funneling users to illegal gambling sites, and the possible concealment of criminal proceeds.

"The Newtoki case is organized cybercrime combining the illegal distribution of webtoons and web novels, links to illegal gambling sites, and a structure for generating criminal profits," the association said. "This must not be treated as a case involving only one illegal site operator. Investigators must pursue to the end those who manage the servers and domains, trace the advertising revenue, and identify all accomplices and facilitators."

On the extradition of the Manamoa operator, the association called it "a necessary step forward for South Korea's content industry and the creators who have suffered," while adding that it "came far too late, given that creators have been raising the alarm for years."

Newtoki began operating in 2018 and grew into the country's largest illegal content distribution network by reproducing and distributing domestic and international webtoons and web novels without authorization. According to web traffic analytics firm SimilarWeb, the site recorded approximately 126 million visits per month just before it shut down. Newtoki announced it would shut down in April and stopped exposing pirated content.

Creators have already seen direct revenue gains after illegal sites were shut down. Park Hyun-wook, a webtoon artist who made his debut with "Gaeban" on Naver Webtoon, said shortly after Newtoki closed that his paid-content revenue for the month had risen to roughly three times what he earned the previous month.

The association made four specific demands of the Korean National Police Agency: immediately open an investigation into the Newtoki operator; establish the nature of the relationship between the Newtoki and Booktoki operators and the Manamoa operator; reclassify the case as organized cybercrime; and incorporate victim creators' testimony and damage records as key evidence.

Meanwhile, the government has been running an emergency blocking regime for illegal webtoon sites since May 11.

[단독] 논란의 선관위 선거경비 위·변조도 있었다…검찰, 충북선관위 직원 기소유예 처분 [세상&]

https://biz.heraldcorp.com/article/10769194