Theoretically yes but there's no way of stopping people who can pay from reading for free as well. Not everyone cares enough to pay for something that's provided for free.
Ah right. :/ I hope we could someday help support the author tho. I know the struggle of an artist so well.
It's actually a loss for the artists and company. Don't count the people who really cannot afford it, count the ones who choose not to pay even when they do have money. If 1 person purchased a chapter and shared it somewhere, out of let's say 100 people who can afford chapters read it for free, how many do you think will go "oh I want to buy a chapter I already read for free." Hardly 10 people would do that. Imagine the thousands who read one various websites, social media, etc. That was the amount of money artists /Lezhin would've received.
Wait. Even if this is distributed for free or not, if poor ppl cannot purchase it anyway, wouldn't the money the author get be the same? Since I know that ppl who have money to afford the mange would pay for the manga to support the author in their best way?