The popular digital manga service MANGA Plusoperated by Japanese publisher Shueisha, sparked a wave of comments on social media due to a recent survey directed at its users. While the overall goal of the survey is to improve the user experience, two issues in particular caught the public’s attention: “Have you ever read manga on a pirated website?” and “This question is asked to those who answered 'I read often' or 'I read sometimes' in question 11. Could you tell us the name of the website you used?“.

These issues have sparked intense debate online, as many users believe that Shueisha is trying to identify manga piracy sites in the West with the help of readers themselves. Despite the stated intentions of the survey, it is likely that those using pirated services do not want to “report” these pages and that most consumers of illegal content are not even aware of the survey.

«Yes. The reason I didn't submit the form is because their privacy policy allows an email to be delivered to the company.», commented one user on a forum, reflecting the general distrust regarding the privacy of the data collected by Shueisha. Other users, in a more sarcastic tone, expressed: «Informants take what is theirs” and “My mother didn't raise a snitch», indicating your refusal to provide information that could harm piracy sites.

Some fans have also shared past experiences with similar surveys, warning about the risks of sharing personal information. «God, I once answered one of those surveys honestly, I was young and dumb thinking it would help the industry. I will never trust anime YouTubers again» confessed one user, referring to a previous case where a seemingly innocent search resulted in the misuse of personal information.

Additionally, several users pointed out the apparent irony of the situation, criticizing publishers for not offering better legal alternatives that discourage piracy. «Why don't all these publishers take notice of Steam on how to end piracy by selling digital manga at reasonable prices worldwide?» commented one user, suggesting that a better strategy would be to improve legal services rather than relying on surveys to identify pirate sites.

Some even considered that the survey could be aimed at a young and inexperienced audience, in the hope that it would reveal the names of piracy sites. «How audacious. They are probably just fishermen kids who respond with the names of pirate sites… As if they didn’t already know which ones are the most visited.», added another user.

Despite the criticism, the survey is still active on MANGA Plus, and it remains to be seen whether Shueisha will take action based on the responses obtained. However, skepticism and distrust towards these types of surveys are evident and it seems unlikely that they will achieve their objective without generating controversy in the process.

Source: reddit