ACE Targets HiAnime & Several Other Piracy Sites

HiAnime is a popular anime piracy streaming site. The platform receives millions of monthly visits from users worldwide, posing a threat to rightsholders in the anime industry. As revealed in a new DMCA subpoena, the MPA plans legal action through ACE.

The Alliance of Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) has requested a DMCA subpoena push that targets dozens of piracy streaming sites. HiAnime is one of the targets, with the subpoena naming at least four domains. These include hianime.to, hianime.nz, hianime.sx, and hianime.mn.

Anime has become a popular genre among viewers, and rightsholders are investing heavily in it. Most of the members of the Motion Pictures Association of America (MPA) are major stakeholders in the anime industry, making piracy sites like HiAnime a common threat to them. They include Disney, Warner Bros, Sony Pictures, Netflix and Amazon.

It makes sense that the MPA, through ACE, is planning legal action against HiAnime and other streaming sites. This year alone, the anti-piracy coalition has successfully shut down several piracy sites, including Aniwave and Fmovies.

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Another Round of ACE Subpoenas

Since its establishment in 2017, ACE has requested several DMCA subpoenas in the courts to help unmask the identities of piracy sites. These subpoenas ask content delivery networks (CDNs) to disclose information related to sites that infringe on the copyrights of rightsholders. ACE’s latest subpoena is directed to Cloudflare, a cloud service, and Tonic, a domain name registry for the .to domain name.

The crackdown targets over 50 sites, including anime, IPTV, movies, and torrent sites. In a series of letters obtained by TorrentFreak, ACE notifies Cloudflare of its users who’ve been found to infringe the copyrighted works of ACE members.

“We have determined that users of your system or network have infringed certain ACE members’ Copyrighted Works via the below-referenced websites,” reads part of the letter.

The letter then lists at least 50 infringing websites, titles, and URLs, among other data.

“Enclosed is a subpoena compliant with the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. The subpoena requires that you provide information concerning the individuals offering infringing material described in the attached notice, ” further reads part of the letter.

ACE seeks to obtain important information that will identify the operators behind the infringing sites through this subpoena. This data includes individual names, telephone numbers, email addresses, physical addresses, IP addresses, account history, and payment information.

Subpoena Comes At The Height of HiAnime Popularity

HiAnime is probably the most popular anime streaming platform right now, thanks to a gap created when ACE shut down its biggest competitor, Aniwave. Similarweb said the site received up to 300 million visits in September 2024 alone.

Anime’s popularity is at an all-time high in America and most of the world. It has reportedly overtaken cartoons to become the most loved animated content genre. Similarweb’s data reveals that HiAnime’s most visitors come from the US, India, Canada, Australia and the UK. That’s why it makes sense that MPA rightsholders are investing in the industry.

One problem, though, is the unending emergence of anime piracy streaming sites like HiAnime.

Anime piracy sites have been around for a while, and anti-piracy bodies have been fighting to take them down. However, these sites re-emerge through rebranding, new domains, and mirror sites. For instance, HiAnime was initially known as Zoro and later Aniwatch. After the former two went offline for legal reasons, HiAnime was born.

More Subpoenas and Targets

ACE, through MPA, is determined to stop piracy. Torrent Freak reports that the coalition sent three subpoenas, two to Cloudflare and one to the Tonic domain registry. The two CDNs have received such subpoenas before and are known to honor them. It is only a matter of time before they give the US government what they seek.

Once ACE gets this information, HiAnime and other target sites might follow Fmovies’ way. The operators behind HiAnime are rumored to be based in Vietnam, just like those behind Fmovies. If HiAnime goes down, this will be the second time ACE has collaborated with the Vietnamese government to curb piracy this year.

The three subpoenas target over 50 piracy sites across anime, movies and TV shows, torrent, and IPTV sectors. Below are some of the targeted sites besides HiAnime.to:

megacine.to
commandotorrents.to
pelisplus.to
hianime.to
hianime.mn
hianime.nz
hianime.sx
fikper.com
filmowo.club
streamtape.com
darkibox.com
kissanime.com.ru
gimy.video
filmoflix.to
filman.cc
moviehdthai.com
anime-sama.fr
animesaturn.mx
animesaturn.tv
imoviehds.com
123-hd.com
24-hd.com
new-hd.com
veronline.mov
fosto.tv
u-playtv.com
inwiptv.com
dhdl.so
mizhls.ru
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What Does This Mean For HiAnime and Other Targeted Sites?

Can these subpoenas help curb piracy streaming sites? How much helpful data can CDNs disclose to ACE?

Operators of piracy sites rarely disclose their identity. They mostly use false information when registering domain names, making transactions, and sharing data. This helps keep them anonymous, making it hard for authorities to find them.

Although ACE did not say the success rate of subpoenas, it revealed that the efforts paid off eventually. Talking to Torrent Freak, MPA’s Deputy Chief of Content Protection, Dani Bacsa said the subpoenas are a necessary legal tool to unmask pirates running mass-infringing services.

According to Bacsa, CDNs and other intermediaries should verify their customers’ identities. This would mitigate associated risks and protect their reputations.

“Applying a Know Your Business Customer (KYBC) will also ensure legal compliance, enhance security, prevent fraud, and protect the intermediary’s reputation by verifying the legitimacy of its business customers and mitigating associated risks,” voiced Bacsa.

When sites become the subject of such legal proceedings, the owners take precautions and plan for what might come. They enhance their privacy and anonymity systems to avoid being discovered by the authorities.

Most will start working on replacement and mirror sites if the flagged domains are seized.

What’s Next for Streamers?

Authorities have been continually targeting piracy sites. We do not condone piracy or copyright violations. However, we understand the importance of privacy and anonymity.

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Final Thoughts

Legal battles between anti-piracy bodies and piracy streaming sites have been going on for a while. We’ve even seen streaming sites with millions of monthly visitors go offline after losing the battle with MPA and ACE. However, these sites usually rebrand and return live like they never left.

This back-and-forth struggle between anti-piracy coalitions and streaming sites is far from over. Do you think ACE’s efforts are in vain? Kindly share your thoughts on this story below.

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