It’s disappointing news for readers: a popular online platform has shut down completely.
On January 19th, the administrators of Bato.to announced the site would be shutting down. The decision, shared on their Discord server, came after careful thought and due to ongoing legal issues surrounding copyright. While they didn’t name who was bringing the legal pressure, they also announced the Discord server would be deleted to prevent further legal problems.
The Bato.to website, along with its related addresses like Bato.ing and Bato.si, is now completely unavailable. This means a popular source for many readers of unique and unofficial content has shut down.
Manga Platform Bato.to Shut Downs Confirmed Following Legal Challenges
In a farewell message, the team encouraged fans to continue supporting creators directly through official channels if possible. While the main website is closing, some former staff hope to create a new community centered around connecting with each other, but want to be clear that Bato.to is finished. One message shared on Discord read, “This marks the end of my involvement. I apologize for any trouble we may have caused, and I wish you all happiness and good health. Thank you for everything, and take care.”
The service is now offline following several weeks of technical problems and reports that internet providers were restricting access. Many users first thought these restrictions were just temporary server glitches.
Many fans remember the original Batoto, which launched in January 2011 and quickly became known for its high-quality scanlations. That version of the site closed in January 2018 because its founder, known as Grumpy, was exhausted and struggled with the technical challenges of managing a collection of almost 20,000 comics. The website domain was then purchased by Mangawindow, and they ran the site until it recently shut down. It’s important to understand that this recent version wasn’t the same as the classic Batoto many long-time users recall.
The recent shutdown of Bato.to is just the newest in a series of big changes affecting illegal manga websites. It happened in September 2025, following a similar abrupt announcement made on Discord. Earlier that same year, in July 2025, Crunchyroll and other publishers through the Syndicat national de l’édition (SNE) took action against another site that had almost 13,000 manga titles and over 690,000 visitors each month.
The scanlation community suffered a major setback when Mangadex, seen by many as the successor to Bato.to, received a massive DMCA takedown notice, leading to the removal of over 7,000 manga series. Shortly after, Shueisha and other companies shut down Mangajikan, a popular site that had disappeared abruptly.
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2026-01-19 23:08