As a long-time advocate for the creative industry and someone who has seen the hardships piracy has inflicted upon artists, I am elated by the news of the FMovies bust. The closure of this notorious pirate streaming operation, which had been operating under the radar for far too long, is a significant victory not just for the studios, but for every creative individual whose work has been unjustly exploited.
Today has been a challenging day for the notorious movie-streaming platform, FMovies, often referred to as the “world’s largest pirate streaming operation.” The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, in collaboration with the Hanoi police, took decisive action against this piracy site, successfully shutting down FMovies and its associated platforms permanently.
According to Variety, the ACE collaborated with Hanoi police and Vietnamese authorities to shut down FMovies and other unlawful streaming sites involved in piracy. The operation also targeted sites such as bflixz, flixtorz, movies7, myflixer, and aniwave, which together received over 6.7 billion visits from January 2023 to June 2024, as reported by the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment.
The FMovies Bust Also Resulted in Two Men Being Arrested
FMovies, a platform originally based in Vietnam, was recently dismantled by authorities in Hanoi. This led to the arrest of two Vietnamese individuals connected to the site. Additionally, Vidsrc.to and any affiliated video hosting sites were shut down. As of now, these two men have not been formally charged. However, Charles Rivkin, chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and the chairman of ACE, celebrated these actions as a significant triumph for casts, crews, writers, directors, studios, and the global creative community, stating they were a “remarkable victory.” Larissa Knapp, executive vice president and content protection officer for the MPA, commented on the matter.
“We eagerly anticipate continuing our collaborative work with Vietnamese officials, U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, and the U.S. Department of Justice’s International Property Program. Our goal is to apprehend and prosecute those involved in criminal activities.”
The ACE, made up of influential members like Netflix, Disney Studios, Amazon, and Apple TV+, primarily focuses on combating online piracy of their content. They operate both domestically and internationally, using law enforcement and legal means to tackle this issue. If piracy is detected, they don’t shy away from taking further action through court cases. For some time now, the streaming platform FMovies has been under scrutiny by the Motion Picture Association (MPA), which also attracts the attention of the ACE.
FMovies was known to house recently released films and TV shows, making it easy for individuals to stream the content online. In a bit of a bold move considering the illegal practices, FMovies tagline read, “Just a better place for watching online movies for free.” According to Rivkin, FMovies had many domains, which made it hard to make sure everything was taken down, but this latest bust likely means it’s the official end for the illegal streaming platform.
Since I joined the Motion Picture Association (MPA) in 2017, as per Rivkin’s reports, there has been a significant drop in piracy services. Initially, there were approximately 1,444 IPTV piracy services operating in North America, but that number has shrunk to a mere 220 this year. Rivkin referred to this recent development as a “significant milestone,” emphasizing that while our fight against piracy may never truly end, we are undoubtedly making progress.
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2024-08-29 23:32