Getty Images | Jerod Harris
A group representing major film studios said it had worked with Vietnamese authorities to shut down the “world's largest pirate streaming service.”
Fmovies, which has also been dubbed the “world's largest piracy ring” by the film industry group, is said to have recorded more than 6.7 billion visits between January 2023 and June 2024. Founded in 2016, the Hanoi-based company included the pirate sites bflixz, flixtorz, movies7, myflixer and aniwave.
“The shutdown of Fmovies is an overwhelming victory for casts, crews, writers, directors, studios and the creative community around the world,” said Charles Rivkin, CEO of the Motion Picture Association (MPA), today.
The industry announcement was made by the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), an enforcement group formed by the MPA and whose members include Amazon, Apple, Comcast, Disney, Fox, HBO, Hulu, MGM, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount, Sony and Warner Bros. In addition to leading the MPA, Rivkin also serves as chair of the ACE.
“Under the leadership of ACE and in partnership with the Ministry of Public Security and Hanoi Metropolitan Police, we are combating criminal activities, protecting audience safety, mitigating risks for tens of millions of consumers, and protecting the rights and livelihoods of creators,” Rivkin said.
ACE said Vidsrc.to, “a notorious video hosting provider operated by the same suspects,” was also taken down as part of an operation that affected “hundreds of other dedicated piracy sites.”
“We have destroyed the mother ship”
Rivkin claimed that the industry's actions will have a significant impact on the availability of pirated content. “We've taken down the mothership here,” he told Variety. “There was a time when piracy was a game of whack-a-mole… Today we're fighting piracy at its roots.”
Another MPA official, Chief Content Protection Officer Larissa Knapp, said the group expects “ongoing joint efforts with Vietnamese authorities, U.S. Department of Homeland Security investigators, and the U.S. Department of Justice's International Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (ICHIP) program to bring the criminal operators to justice.”
ACE also recently announced settlements with three US-based operators requiring them to shut down IPTV services accused of “mass copyright infringement.” ACE describes itself as “the world's leading coalition dedicated to protecting the legal creative market and curbing digital piracy.” It works closely with the US government: The National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, a US government agency overseen by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, announced in 2022 that it would add “MPA and ACE personnel” to its team in Washington, DC.
In an April 2024 speech, Rivkin complained that American users were able to access Fmovies because there was no law blocking the site. “FMovies, one of the largest illegal streaming sites in the world, gets over 160 million visits per month – and since other countries have already passed laws blocking the sites, a third of that traffic still comes from the United States,” Rivkin said. In the speech, Rivkin said the MPA plans to lobby members of Congress for a law requiring internet service providers to block piracy websites.
Movie studios have also tried to force ISPs to cut off Internet users accused of piracy. Cable provider Cox Communications recently asked the Supreme Court to overturn an appeals court ruling in a case brought by Sony. The ruling “would force ISPs to cut off Internet service to homes or businesses based on unproven allegations of infringement.”