MangaStream Goes Offline Following Legal Trouble with Publisher

• MangaStream is down and people believe it’s due to a recent lawsuit by Shueisha.
• The platform has been one of the most popular scanlators of the past decade, so it’s going to be missed.
• Manga piracy is a misdeed that is harshly punished nowadays, as there’s much money involved in the affected market.

As reported by Torrent Freak, as well as multiple members of the MangaStream community, the platform is down and it’s probably going to stay that way. Its website is unreachable, its Twitter account has been deleted, and it all coincides with a lawsuit that was submitted by Shueisha in a US court. Shueisha is a Tokyo-based firm that publishes popular Shōnen manga and Seinen manga magazines, offering both English and Japanese editions. As MangaStream was one of the most popular scanlation platforms on the net, Shueisha wasn’t particularly happy about its existence.

https://twitter.com/RainSpectre/status/1207605741349007360

The way these platforms work is pretty simple and straightforward. Someone buys a digital version of the manga magazine and uploads it to a message board on the platform. Then, other users download the “pirated” copy and get to read the otherwise paid content. Many of these pieces are translated in English by the users, so they are actually illegal spin-offs deriving from the originals. Typically, the website is hosting the content but it’s not responsible for what the users create and upload. Of course, the popularity of these websites is not based or due to the discussion about manga comics, but mainly thanks to the content sharing that takes place, so publishers are going after these platforms by all means.

Source: Torrent Freak

We have reported about the “Manga Rock” pirate comics aggregator going legal back in September after they faced trouble over their actions. Moreover, back in January, the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs pushed for stricter laws for the punishment of manga pirates, proposing two years of imprisonment and about $18k in fines. In June, we saw how another Japanese manga publisher, Shogakukan tried to force YouTube to hand over personal information of manga pirates who uploaded pirated content on the video platform. It is clear that manga piracy has dire consequences today, as this is a field that draws a lot of consumer attention globally, and money without a doubt. That said, manga pirates and scanlation platform fans are going through a rough phase right now. If you're looking for your anime fix, check out this guide on how to get it.

Are you a fan of manga scanlators, or do you prefer to pay for the real thing on the publisher’s platform? Let us know where you stand in the comments section down below, or on our socials, on Facebook and Twitter.