Fmovies, said to be the world’s largest pirate streaming operator, has been shut down by Vietnamese police in collaboration with the MPA-led anti-piracy group Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment.
A crackdown by Hanoi police resulted in the shutdown of Fmovies and dozens of associated piracy sites. Fmovies was launched in 2016 and encompassed sites such as bflixz, movies7, myflixer and heymovies. The crackdown also targeted the Vidsrc.to domain, a “notorious video hosting provider operated by the same suspects,” according to ACE. Between January 2023 and June 2024, the Fmovies syndicate attracted more than 6.7 billion visits, according to ACE.
“We brought down the mother ship here,” said Charles Rivkin, CEO of the Motion Picture Association and president of ACE. Variety“There was a time when piracy was like whack-a-mole…Today, we’re going after the roots of piracy.”
At its peak in 2023, Fmovies was the 11th most popular website in the world in the TV, movies and streaming categories, according to data analytics firm SimilarWeb. Fmovies has been on the U.S. Trade Representative’s “notorious marketplace” list for counterfeit goods and piracy since 2017. The USTR’s latest report reported that Fmovies has more than 60 associated domains used in “significant piracy activities.”
Rivkin called Fmovies’ closure “a tremendous win for the cast, crew, writers, directors, studios and creative communities around the world.”
“Through ACE’s leadership and collaboration with the Ministry of Public Security and Hanoi Police, we are combating criminal activity, keeping audiences safe, mitigating risks posed to tens of millions of consumers, and protecting the rights and livelihoods of creators,” Rivkin said.
The MPA has long argued that shutting down pirate sites increases traffic to legal streaming sites. The group cites a 2013 study by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University that estimated that in the 18 weeks after file-sharing site Megaupload was shut down the previous year, digital film revenues from two studios in 12 countries were 6.5% to 8.5% higher than they would have been if Megaupload hadn’t been shut down.
In many cases, consumers who visit pirate sites like Fmovies “don’t even know it’s wrong,” Rivkin said. “Some of these sites are clean and beautiful, like Netflix. It seems too good to be true, and it is.” He added that the MPA is lobbying for legislation in the U.S. that would allow pirate sites to be blocked nationwide, similar to laws in place in more than 60 countries.
Rivkin met with Vietnam’s ambassador to the US, Nguyen Quoc Dung, earlier this summer to discuss “ways to strengthen ties between our two countries’ creative economies and protect the livelihoods of the creative workers who drive this shared growth,” he wrote in an X post.
The shutdown of Fmovies “serves as a powerful deterrent in this landmark case,” said Larissa Knapp, a former senior FBI official who became the MPA’s executive vice president and chief content protection officer this year. She said the industry group looks forward to continuing to work with Vietnamese authorities, the Department of Homeland Security Investigations and the Justice Department’s International Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Program to “bring criminals to justice.”
“Strengthening intellectual property rights is a key element of the U.S.-Vietnam comprehensive partnership,” U.S. Ambassador to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Mark E. Knapper said in a statement. “This prosecution demonstrates Vietnam’s commitment to intellectual property rights enforcement, contributing to an economic ecosystem in which creators and inventors can thrive.”
Ngo Phuong Lan, Chairman of the Vietnam Film Promotion Association (VFDA), commented: “Vietnam’s film industry is at a critical development stage, moving from a state-subsidized production model to a phase of rapid growth with private sector involvement. Protecting intellectual property rights is a key factor for the success of our industry. VFDA strongly commends ACE’s efforts to work with Vietnamese authorities to combat the serious piracy activities of Fmovies operators.”
In December 2023, MPA Senior Executive Vice President and Global General Counsel Karin Temple demonstrated the Fmovies site during testimony at a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee’s Intellectual Property Subcommittee to highlight the dangers and prevalence of digital piracy.
Founded in 2017, the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment’s members include more than 50 media and entertainment companies and associations from around the world. ACE’s current board members are Amazon, Apple TV+, Netflix, Paramount Global, Sony Pictures, Universal Studios, Walt Disney Studios and Warner Bros. Discovery.
