There’s news swirling that Tapas, the U.S. based webtoon platform will soon be shutting down… or is it being consolidated into a new platform? As reported by Maeil Business, Kakao Entertainment is consolidating its webtoon and web novel platforms under Kakao Page. That would mean that Kakao Webtoon and Tapas would be shut down in their current form, and it’s unclear as to what will be moved over to Kakao Page.

Currently Kakao Entertainment runs Kakao Page, Kakao Webtoon, and Tapas, covering webtoons and web novels. Those platforms would instead be merged into Kakao Page. Kakao Page was launched in 2013 while Kakao Webtoon was launched in 2003 by Daum which was acquired by Kakao in 2014. Kakao acquired Tapas and Radish Media in 2021.

The news says the new platform will “enhance the content, user data, artificial intelligence technology and operational capabilities accumulated by each platform.” It would also centralize 16,000 original stories.

The reaction online from creators is negative with the common theme being they haven’t been informed of the change. The original article said they’d be informed “shortly.” Kakao Entertainment stated it will inform users of specific integration timelines and methods on the 29th.

It’s unclear if the content on Tapas will be moved over to the new platform or completely shutdown and Kakao Entertainment and Tapas haven’t made an official announcement. We’ve asked for more details.

The Kakao Labor Union has criticized the company stating that “explanations regarding the Tapas closure process, financial losses, and measures for employee relocation, voluntary retirement, and user refunds, as well as content and data protection, were insufficiently communicated to employees.”

We’ll have more information when Kakao makes an official statement and releases more detail.