As part of the current crackdown on intellectual property infringement, Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security recently took down a major network of websites providing illegal anime streaming.
As Tuổi Trẻ reports, on July 1, the Economic, Corruption and Smuggling Crime Investigation Police Force (C03) charged seven people for alleged copyright infringement, four of whom were arrested and also charged with money laundering.
The police investigation shows that, from 2020 until April 2026, five members of the group created over 100 websites hosting and providing streaming service on over 26,000 series and movie titles without permission from IP owners. Their operation had allegedly earned approximately US$12.85 million (VND308.4 trillion) in ad revenue before being shut down just a few months ago.
The streaming websites went through several name changes over the years, but the most current iteration was HiAnime, a well-known media archive with features similar to Netflix.
According to the police, members were paid by foreign advertising companies in cryptocurrency, which was laundered through intermediaries before being transferred to their personal accounts at local banks. They also purchased cars and real estate to hide the true origins of their earnings from authorities.
C03 carried out the crackdown based on intelligence from US organizations, local media reports, including the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Motion Picture Association (MPA) and Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE).
Vietnam has been intensifying efforts to squash piracy and reinforce intellectual property rights in the past months in direct response to complaints from the United States Trade Representative (USTR), which applied the “Priority Foreign Country” status on Vietnam for the first time in 13 years in April 2026.
The designation Priority Foreign Country means that USTR has 30 days to determine whether a formal investigation is warranted. Ambassador Jamieson Greer moved forward with the decision in May, announcing: “While Vietnam has recently taken some steps toward addressing IP concerns that the United States has chronicled over many years in USTR’s Annual Special 301 Report, IP infringement in Vietnam continues to impair the competitive position of U.S. innovators and creators. We need to see Vietnam resolve these long-standing concerns, including on a range of IP enforcement issues, in a manner that is sustained and that deters future IP infringements.”
Japan is also another party with a vested interest in Vietnam’s anti-piracy efforts. In July, Kyodo News reports, the Japanese government presented plans to use official development assistance (ODA) to support 10 developing nations’ efforts to curtail piracy of Japanese anime, games, and manga. These include Southeast Asian infringement hot spots like Indonesia and Vietnam.
According to Kyodo, government data shows that last year, Japan suffered JPY10.4 trillion in losses from illicit media sharing and fake merchandise. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which is in charge of ODA, will start determining local needs in August and supporting funds are expected to be available from April 2027.
Top image via Lao Động.
