Illegal Sports Streaming Giant Streameast Shut Down
The world’s largest illegal sports streaming site, Streameast, has officially been taken down. After a sting operation in Egypt led by the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, the notorious piracy hub was shut down on August 24th, following a year-long investigation.
Streameast, which had 80 associated domains and racked up over 1.6 billion visits in the past year, provided access to major sporting events like Europe’s football championships, the NFL, NBA, MLB, pay-per-view boxing, and F1 races. On average, the site saw 136 million monthly visitors, with a large number of users coming from the U.S., Canada, the U.K., the Philippines, and Germany.
Charles Rivkin, chairman of ACE and head of the Motion Picture Assn., expressed satisfaction with the shutdown, stating, “With this landmark action, we have put more points on the board for sports leagues, entertainment companies, and fans worldwide — and our global alliance will stay on the field as long as it takes to identify and target the biggest piracy rings across the globe.”
Two suspects were arrested outside of Cairo on suspicion of copyright infringement, with authorities seizing laptops, smartphones, cash, credit cards, and uncovering potential money laundering activities. It was revealed that Streameast made around $6.2 million in advertising revenue, with a $200,000 investment in cryptocurrency. Additionally, properties in Egypt were allegedly purchased using these illicit funds.
Collaborating with various international agencies, ACE’s investigation received support from Europol, the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Centre. Former Streameast domains will now redirect to ACE’s “watch legally” page, providing links to authorized streaming platforms. This significant development comes just in time for the NFL’s regular season kickoff.
