Vietnamese authorities have arrested and are prosecuting seven suspects believed to have run HiAnime, the largest anime piracy streaming service before its shutdown in June.
HiAnime provided access to a massive library of English-subbed and dubbed anime without subscription fees, attracting several hundred million visitors each month and temporarily surpassing legal streaming platforms like Disney+ and Crunchyroll in web traffic between late 2024 and 2025.
It was launched on the Zoro.to domain, rebranded to Aniwatch (and switched to Aniwatch.to) in July 2023, and again in March 2024 as HiAnime/H!Anime (using the HiAnime.to domain).
After becoming massively popular, HiAnime was also placed on the European Commission's Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List and the United States Trade Representative's (USTR) Notorious Markets list.
The seven defendants have been charged with infringing copyright and related rights and with money laundering, with four of them detained and the other three placed under house arrest.
They have been accused of creating more than 100 websites to upload over 26,000 pirated anime films, generating approximately $12.85 million in illegal advertising revenue between 2020 and April 2026.
The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), a coalition of over 50 media and entertainment companies, including the world's largest film studios and television networks, focused on shuttering illegal streaming services, confirmed the law enforcement action on Thursday and thanked U.S. authorities for their support throughout a multi-year investigation that led to the suspects' arrests.
HiAnime defendants (Vietnam's Ministry of Public Security)
"ACE applauds the actions of Vietnam's Ministry of Public Security (MPS), in particular C03, the Economic Crimes Investigation Department, and A05, the Department of Cybersecurity and High-Tech Crime Prevention, in arresting and prosecuting seven operators believed to be behind Hianime and related piracy services," said the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment on Thursday.
"ACE would also like to thank its partners, Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Department of Justice, for their continued support in this multi-year investigation and action. ACE looks forward to continuing to support the MPS and its relevant agencies, and to working even more closely with them on future actions against piracy services."
Earlier this year, in March, ACE also announced the shutdown of AnimePlay, another major anime streaming platform that hosted more than 60 terabytes of anime TV shows and movies and had over 5 million registered users.
The anti-piracy coalition dismantled AnimePlay by taking all infrastructure offline, including its hosting servers and web domains.
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<small>Source: Bleeping Computer</small>
