There's even a controversy over a female-hate stand-by and mocking the boycott...Naver Webtoon, "Amnesty International".

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Controversy over Naver Webtoon's misogynistic content has been raised, leading to strong opposition from readers, including membership withdrawal and refund.

According to the webtoon industry on the 23rd, as it has been pointed out that Naver Webtoon has been sitting on the sidelines of misogynistic content, online postings certifying the refund of Naver Webtoon Cookies (electronic money for reading webtoons) and withdrawal of members are continuing.

The number of actual users is also decreasing. According to mobile application research company Mobile Index, Naver Webtoon's daily active users (DAU based on Android) decreased by 10% from 2.2 million to 2.3 million before the boycott to 2 million to 2.1 million after the boycott.

Earlier at the end of last month, Naver Webtoon's largest 2024 ground contest was sparked by the passing of an amateur webtoon called "Isegye Pong Pong Nam" in the first round of the contest.

The webtoon tells the story of a 39-year-old man who is betrayed by his wife and loses his fortune in the process of divorce, and uses the new word "Pong Pongnam," which means a man who married several men only after seeing economic conditions.

'Pongpongnam' appears to be a self-help expression of married men, but it is misogynically used with prejudice and sexual nuance that women use men for economic gain.

As a result, female netizens boycotted Naver Webtoon, which did not sanction the webtoon, but the controversy intensified as Naver Webtoon conducted inappropriate marketing of nuances that mocked it.

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On the 16th, Naver Webtoon promoted the webtoon "Children's Friend Complex" on its official X account and said, "We boycott the childhood friend complex. It used memes (meme) phrases such as "buy hot, buy hot like fire," and it was pointed out that it was a mockery of the recent boycott.

In response, Naver Webtoon explained that the marketing content was produced and released on the 10th of last month before the boycott due to the "Isegye Pompongnam" and automatically reissued due to its low exposure. At the same time, he deleted marketing content that was misunderstood as mocking the boycott and promised to prevent a recurrence, but did not apologize for the misogyny controversy that triggered the boycott.

Webtoon Writers Association Statement

In response, the Webtoon Writers Association, which gathered 226 people, urged Naver Webtoon to sincerely apologize and explain.

The Webtoon Writers Association pointed out that "Naver Webtoon's response is an act of deceiving readers and ignoring the trust of the writer." △ Efforts to communicate with readers, △ Explain discriminatory censorship of webtoon writers and establish clear standards to disclose, △ Demand a sincere apology and explanation for aggravating the situation due to insufficient response, and urged relevant answers by November 5.

Reporter Lee Yu Na from Digital News Team.