An international anti-piracy coalition has successfully dismantled Fmovies, a significant illegal streaming operation based in Vietnam, marking a major triumph for the entertainment industry.
The coalition, which includes major Hollywood studios and is spearheaded by the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), announced on Thursday that it collaborated with Hanoi police to shut down Fmovies and several related sites.
The operation also led to the closure of the video hosting provider Vidsrc.to and its associated sites, which were operated by the same individuals.
Two Vietnamese men were arrested by Hanoi police in connection with the case, though charges have not yet been filed, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Charles Rivkin, chairman of the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and ACE, celebrated the shutdown as a significant achievement for the global creative community. In a statement, he described it as “a monumental victory for casts, crews, writers, directors, studios, and creatives worldwide.”
“We’ve struck at the heart of piracy,” he told Variety. “There was a time when fighting piracy felt like a game of Whac-a-Mole… Now, we’re targeting piracy at its source.”
ACE’s membership includes industry giants such as Netflix, Apple TV+, Amazon, and Walt Disney Studios.
Larissa Knapp, a senior executive at the MPA, emphasized that this action serves as a powerful deterrent and reiterated the commitment to continued collaboration with various authorities to prosecute those responsible.
“We look forward to ongoing cooperation with Vietnamese authorities, US Homeland Security Investigations, and the US Department of Justice’s International Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (ICHIP) program to bring these criminal operators to justice,” she said.
The operation also targeted other sites such as Bflixz, Flixtorz, Movies7, and Myflixer, which together formed what has been described as the largest pirate streaming network in the world, with over 6.7 billion visits between January 2023 and June 2024.
At its peak in 2023, Fmovies was ranked as the 11th most popular website globally in the TV, movies, and streaming category, according to data from SimilarWeb.
Fmovies has been listed on the US Trade Representative’s “notorious markets” list for counterfeiting and piracy since 2017. The USTR’s latest report links Fmovies to more than 60 domains involved in “significant piracy operations.”
Many consumers who use piracy sites like those operated by Fmovies “may not even realize they’re doing something wrong,” Rivkin pointed out.
“Some of these sites are as polished and user-friendly as Netflix. It seems too good to be true — and it is.”
He also noted that the MPA is advocating for US legislation that would allow for nationwide blocking of piracy sites, similar to laws already implemented in over 60 other countries.
Marc E. Knapper, the US ambassador to Vietnam, stated in a press release: “Strengthening intellectual property rights is a key component of the US-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership. These prosecutions reflect Vietnam’s commitment to enforcing intellectual property rights, contributing to an economic environment where creators and innovators can thrive.”
