The Motion Picture Association (MPA) and the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) have put their crosshairs on HiAnime.
HiAnime.to has quickly become a top destination for anime fans, especially after one of its major competitors was shut down. The site experienced a significant traffic boost, reaching 300 million visits in September.
This surge in popularity didn’t go unnoticed by ACE and the MPA, which have now set their sights on HiAnime.to and other similar sites in a new wave of legal actions.
The Growing Popularity of Anime Piracy
Anime has been steadily gaining popularity worldwide, with most viewers turning to streaming websites.
Many anime fans use unofficial channels to access their favorite content, driving massive traffic to pirate websites like HiAnime.to.
The popularity of these sites poses a challenge to the anime industry, as a significant portion of its audience opts for illegal streaming platforms.
ACE has been actively pursuing pirate websites to curb unauthorized streaming of anime. Recently, they made headlines with the shutdown of the Fmovies piracy network, eliminating nearly a billion monthly visits from the piracy market.
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This operation also led to the takedown of Aniwave.to, a well-known anime piracy site that evolved from the 9anime brand. Following the shutdown of Aniwave, much of its user base transitioned to HiAnime.to, causing its traffic to skyrocket.
Like its predecessors, HiAnime.to has gone through several rebranding efforts to avoid legal issues, previously operating under names like Aniwatch and Zoro.to.
HiAnime.to’s Soaring Traffic
HiAnime.to has now become the most-visited anime piracy site globally. Data from Similarweb indicates that the site saw a jump from 210 million to over 300 million visits in just one month, largely due to the absence of its former rival, Aniwave.
HiAnime.to attracts a global audience, with a significant portion of its traffic coming from countries like the United States, India, the UK, Canada, and Australia.
The rise in traffic is hardly a surprise to ACE, which has had its eye on HiAnime.to and its predecessors for a while. The anti-piracy alliance is determined to shut down the operation as soon as it gets the opportunity.
Legal Actions Against HiAnime.to
Last week, the MPA took legal action by requesting several DMCA subpoenas from a federal court in California.
These subpoenas are directed at Cloudflare and the Tonic domain registry and are designed to uncover the identities of those running HiAnime.to, along with other sites like Pelisplus.to and Veronline.mov.
The subpoenas aim to gather personal information, including names, addresses, IP addresses, and payment details of the site operators.
ACE members hope that this information will help them build cases against those responsible for running these piracy platforms.
This legal action isn’t limited to anime streaming sites. The MPA and ACE have listed a total of 55 domain names in their recent subpoenas.
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Other Pirate Sites Targeted by ACE/MPA
In addition to HiAnime, below are dozens of other pirate websites targeted by ACE/MPA as listed in their subpoena.
- 123-hd.com
- 24-hd.com
- anime-sama.fr
- animesaturn.mx
- comandotorrents.to
- darkibox.com
- fikper.com
- filman.cc
- filmoflix.dad
- fosto.tv
- gimy.video
- imoviehds.com
- kissanime.com.ru
- megacine.to
- megaflix.click
- movielair.cc
- movierulztv.us
- new-hd.com
- overflixtv.com
- pelisflix.pink
- pelisplus.to
- seriesflix.my
- soaper.live
- streamtape.com
- superfilmes.blue
- tecflix.vip
- tuktukcima.com
- tvchak113.com
- u-playtv.com
- veronline.mov
Final Thoughts
Despite the efforts of the MPA and ACE to crack down on anime piracy, it’s clear that this battle is far from over. As one site shuts down, others like HiAnime.to quickly rise to take its place, drawing in millions of visitors almost overnight.
This cat-and-mouse game between anti-piracy groups and site operators is likely to continue, with new platforms constantly emerging to meet the high demand for free anime content.
For more information on this story, refer to ACE’s subpoena (PDF) and the report from TorrentFreak.
We want to know your thoughts on this story. What do you think about ACE coming after HiAnime and other websites? Let us know in the comment section below!
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