"This news comes via a report from the Japanese Content Overseas Distribution Organisation, also known as CODA, indicating that the home of a man 'alleged to have operated the world's largest manga piracy site' had been searched. Although the suspect in question, who was arrested on suspicion of copyright infringement, was detained on November 19, 2025, CODA's report states that the BATO group of sites 'continued limited operation' until January 19, at which point they confirmed that 'all 60' of BATO.TO sites had shut down."
"The statement notes that the 60 sites combined pulled in an estimated 350 million visits in May 2025 alone, and alleges that the 'resulting economic impact' supposedly 'amounts to approximately 770 billion yen.' That's just shy of 5 billion USD. This absurdly large loss matches up with a recently published report from Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, which estimated that Japanese anime, manga, and video game piracy resulted in 5.7 trillion yen (roughly 37 billion USD) of damage in 2025."
BATO.TO and approximately 60 related sites were shut down following a joint operation by the Shanghai Public Security Bureau and Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Japanese Content Overseas Distribution Organisation (CODA) reported a search of the home of a man alleged to have operated the network and said a suspect arrested on November 19, 2025, had been detained on suspicion of copyright infringement. CODA said the sites continued limited operation until January 19, when all 60 were confirmed closed. The sites drew an estimated 350 million visits in May 2025, and CODA alleges resulting economic impact of about 770 billion yen. CODA said the investigation followed requests from Japanese publishers and that China Literature Limited cooperated.
Read at Kotaku
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]