It is totally legit for publishers to fight piracy or - to give it a better name - unauthorized translations. That doesnˋt mean it makes sense to do this. First, why would they do this? Just take a look at how big manga (and LN) has gotten. You can find more and more titles (and more and more obscure ones) on Amazon and official sites/apps. That triggers the understandable wish to kill of any unauthorized competition to make as much money as you can. Second, why now to this extent? Because AI can do it for you nearly for free. Third, does it make sense? Yes. And no. Some might argue it is absolutely necessary, behause official translations only work if there is money to be made. It would be plain stupid to allow anyone to give away content for free that you payed for, invested money to translate. But - would Manga have gotten this big without unauthorized translations, and will it stay this big? I donˋt think so. Spending money on two or three big titles wonˋt be a thing for a lot of readers. But on several dozens of dubious quality? Not a lot of people will do. What publishers forget is why Manga series get big. In the years pre-bato/Mangadex I bought 2 series, Gunsmith Cats and Battle Angel Alita (me being a franco-belgian comic afficionado). But since I bought more than a dozen complete series including long running titles like Vinland Saga, Frieren or Goblin Slayer - and with the only exception of Goblin Slayer I bought them because I read them on bato or Mangadex first, realized they are great and worth buying. Without these I wouldn‘t have bought them. And I don‘t think I‘m the only one. In theory, every Manga read on Mangadex is a Manga not sold by the publisher. But in reality this is not true. Mangadex & co. are free advertising and the best waay to get new authors known to tge public. DMCAing the big names that sell automatically is the right thing to do, but DMCAing smaller, less known titles is plain stupid and will kill of a lot of potential hits. Lets be honest, who would have bought a title like Frieren or Apothecary Diaries (pre Anime) just from taking a look at the synopsis on Amazon?
