An international anti-piracy coalition including major Hollywood studios has claimed victory over Fmovies, a large illegal streaming operation based i

‘World’s largest’ piracy ring Fmovies shut down by police in Vietnam

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2024-08-29 20:30:13

An international anti-piracy coalition including major Hollywood studios has claimed victory over Fmovies, a large illegal streaming operation based in Vietnam.

The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (Ace), whose governing members include Netflix, Apple TV+, Amazon and the Walt Disney Studios, announced on Thursday that it worked with Hanoi police to shut down Fmovies and affiliated sites. The illegal consortium, with sites including Bflixz, Flixtorz, Movies7 and Myflixer in addition to Fmovies, constituted “the largest pirate streaming operation in the world”, according to Ace, with more than 6.7bn visits between January 2023 and June 2024.

The operation also shuttered the video hosting provider Vidsrc.to and its affiliated sites, which, per Ace, were operated by the same people. Hanoi police arrested two Vietnamese men in connection to Fmovies, who have yet to be charged, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The efforts marked “a stunning victory for casts, crews, writers, directors, studios, and the creative community across the globe”, said Charles Rivkin, chairman and CEO of the Hollywood trade group the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and the chairman of Ace, in a statement. Larissa Knapp, the executive vice-president and chief content protection officer for the MPA, said the takedown sent a “powerful deterrent message”.