Spanish Illegal Webtoon Site With 86 Million Monthly Visits Taken Down by K-Webtoons

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[The Financial News] The Copyright Overseas Promotion Association (COA) said on the 27th that it had shut down a major Spanish-language illegal webtoon site and multiple related sites together with webtoon member companies, including Kakao Entertainment, WEBTOON, Lezhin Entertainment, RIDI Corporation, KidariStudio, Toomics and Topco Media.
The action was carried out by Spanish judicial authorities and marks the first case in which webtoon rights holders achieved results by responding directly under local law overseas. The site, TuMangaOnline (TMO), was a large Spanish-language illegal platform that operated numerous pirated services and ran illegal content on a wide scale in Spain and Spanish-speaking countries across Latin America.
According to the rights holders, the site recorded about 86 million visits in March 2025 alone. Based on Similarweb data, it ranked 327th worldwide, 87th in Spain and 26th in Mexico.
Through its own investigation, the rights holders identified the local operators in Spain. The Copyright Overseas Promotion Association (COA) then worked closely with local investigative authorities and the court to bring about the shutdown.
A formal criminal trial is expected to begin in Spain.
Backed by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST), the Copyright Overseas Promotion Association (COA) responds to copyright infringement overseas on behalf of rights holders. It also works with related organizations at home and abroad, including the Korea Copyright Protection Agency (KCOPA), the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and its anti-piracy arm ACE, and the Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA), on joint responses and other initiatives.
Meanwhile, Kakao Entertainment, which serves as the chair company of the Copyright Overseas Promotion Association (COA), was the first in the industry to establish a global anti-piracy team and has been carrying out systematic efforts to combat copyright infringement worldwide. It also publishes a semiannual white paper on piracy response strategies and shares them with the industry.
WEBTOON is also carrying out a range of efforts to protect creators' earnings and works from illegal webtoon distribution.
wongood@fnnews.com Joo Won-kyu Reporter