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ACE Closes Filma24, the Movie Piracy Giant in Albania

Politiko 2025-06-25 13:44:37

ACE Closes Filma24, the Movie Piracy Giant in Albania

For thousands of Albanians, Filma24 was the go-to destination for pirated movies and TV series. However, this weekend, that routine was abruptly interrupted when the site and many of its backup domains were shut down. All signs point to an intervention by anti-piracy group ACE and its parent organization Motion Picture Association (MPA), which is the new owner of Filma24’s domain names.

Online piracy is a global problem for copyright holders, but some threats are relatively localized.

In addition to internationally oriented sites like The Pirate Bay, Hianime, Cineby and many others, there are also many local favorites.

Filma24

Five years ago, Filma24 was Albania's leading pirate site, with over half of its visitors coming from the Southeast European country, making it one of the country's most popular websites.

The site's popularity caught the attention of the MPA's Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), which attempted to identify the operators through a DMCA injunction obtained in a US court.

The MPA also mentioned the pirate site in its most recent infamous markets submission to the US Trade Representative. While it was not cited as a major threat, it was noted that the IO domain registry had kept Filma24’s .io domain online, despite complaints from rights holders.

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