Anti-piracy coalition takes down AnimePlay app with 5 million users

Recorded: March 27, 2026, 11 a.m.

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HomeNewsSecurityAnti-piracy coalition takes down AnimePlay app with 5 million users

Anti-piracy coalition takes down AnimePlay app with 5 million users

By Sergiu Gatlan

March 27, 2026
06:40 AM
1

The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) announced the shutdown of AnimePlay, a major anime streaming platform with over 5 million users.
Backed by more than 50 major television networks and film studios, including Disney, Paramount, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros, Netflix, and Universal Pictures, ACE focuses on taking down illegal streaming services through civil litigation, criminal referrals, and cease-and-desist operations.
In recent years, ACE targeted and dismantled a long string of other large-scale illegal streaming networks in joint operations with law enforcement. Most recently, in November 2025, it shut down Photocall, a massive TV piracy streaming platform with over 26 million users annually.
In its latest action, the anti-piracy coalition shut down the AnimePlay anime streaming platform, which hosted more than 60 terabytes of anime TV shows and movies and had amassed over 5 million registered users, most of them from Indonesia.
ACE took control of the AnimePlay app and dismantled the operation by taking all infrastructure offline, including hosting servers and web domains.
"ACE secured control of not just the application, but also its underlying infrastructure, including 15 associated domains, source code, hosting environment, and related digital assets, all of which have now been taken offline," the anti-piracy organization said in a Thursday statement. "In so doing, ACE has effectively dismantled the operation and restricted the operator's ability to rebuild or relaunch the service."
The developer and admin of the piracy service also surrendered control of the backend ecosystem powering AnimePlay to ACE, including backend servers, associated databases, advertising tools, and 29 GitHub repositories containing full source code.
"We will continue working with our partners across the Asia Pacific region and globally to dismantle criminal operations like this and safeguard the integrity of the creative economy," added Larissa Knapp, Chief Content Protection Officer and Executive Vice President for the Motion Picture Association (MPA).

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Sergiu Gatlan
Sergiu is a news reporter who has covered the latest cybersecurity and technology developments for over a decade. Email or Twitter DMs for tips.

Comments

NoneRain - 7 minutes ago

How long til they put everything up again?

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The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), backed by a consortium of major media corporations including Disney, Paramount, and Warner Bros., successfully dismantled the AnimePlay streaming platform. AnimePlay, a service boasting over 5 million users primarily located in Indonesia, operated with over 60 terabytes of anime content and faced prior takedowns by ACE. ACE’s strategy frequently involves coordinated efforts with law enforcement and civil litigation to combat illegal streaming operations, as evidenced by previous actions against platforms like Photocall. This latest operation involved a complete shutdown of AnimePlay, encompassing the app itself, its underlying infrastructure – including 15 domains, source code, hosting environments, and a significant 29 GitHub repositories – and the surrender of control by the developer and administrator. ACE secured control of these assets, effectively preventing any potential relaunch or rebuilding of the service. Larissa Knapp, Chief Content Protection Officer for the Motion Picture Association (MPA), indicated ACE’s continued commitment to globally dismantling criminal streaming networks and safeguarding the creative economy. The action highlights ACE’s persistent strategy of aggressively targeting and eliminating unauthorized streaming services, a tactic they have honed over recent years with successful interventions against major piracy operations.