More changes are coming to WEBTOON.
In an announcement sent via email and posted on the WEBTOON app, the platform revealed it will remove the star rating system across the app, desktop site, and mobile website. According to WEBTOON, this change aims to create a “more engaging and welcoming experience for both readers and Creators.” The platform plans to remove the rating system in mid-to-late June for both WEBTOON Originals and CANVAS series.
This update has received a more positive response than the controversial Daily Pass removal. On Reddit, commenters noted that the rating system offers little benefit to creators or readers.
Currently, the system uses a 1 to 10 scale displayed as five stars. Readers must swipe to select a score before submitting. However, WEBTOON doesn’t offer a place for readers to write reviews or explain their ratings—only chapter-level comments are available.
The system has faced ongoing criticism, particularly for enabling “review bombing.” In review bombing, individuals, sometimes using multiple accounts, assign low scores to sabotage a series. Many creators reported a surge in review bombing during the 2025 WEBTOON contest.
Readers can submit negative ratings at any point in the story, even without finishing it. These ratings often reflect dissatisfaction with temporary factors like creator hiatuses, short chapters, plot twists, or genre preferences, not the story’s overall quality.
Additionally, the system defaults to a perfect score of 10, but many users only rate when unhappy, which unfairly skews ratings. As a result, the rating often fails to reflect reader sentiment accurately, especially compared to more reliable stats like subscriptions, views, and comments.
Many creators have said the rating system causes undue stress, especially after seeing their scores drop due to review bombing.
WEBTOON emphasized that this change supports its commitment to prioritizing storytelling, creativity, and authentic engagement over numerical scores. The platform has no current plans to introduce a replacement rating system, but it welcomes feedback via email.
Source: WEBTOON
