123Movies

Former online illegal movie streaming site network yes 123Movies / GoMovies Offline Yes Vietnam Worldwide 98 million at peak (Vietnamese-based) Unlicensed Optional est. 2015–2016The MPAA only first makes comment on 123Movies in its 2016 report to the USTR; it does not appear in the MPAA 2015 report to the USTR on Notorious Markets. Similarly, the earliest article on TorrentFreak regarding 123Movies dates from late 2016.https://torrentfreak.com/uk-piracy-blocklist-expands-with-123movies-and-other-streaming-sites-161028/ UK Piracy Blocklist Expands With 123movies and Other Streaming Sites Ernsto 28 October 2016 22 February 2019 The 123movies.to website is by far the largest target on the list. The site is currently the most used pirate site in the UK, and attracts millions of daily visitors around the globe. While the looming blockade will result in a temporary reduction in traffic, 123movies is already anticipating such measures. The streaming portal currently features a message alerting people that they have an alternative .ru domain available that may help to bypass blockades. English 123Movies logo.png 123Movies, GoMovies, GoStream, 123movieshub Online file hosting index Advertising 123Movies, GoMovies, GoStream, MeMovies or 123movieshub was a network of file streaming websites operating from Vietnam which allowed users to watch films for free. It was called the world's "most popular illegal site" by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) in March 2018, before being shut down a few weeks later on foot of a criminal investigation by the Vietnamese authorities. Development thumb|GoMovies logo The site went through several name changes after being shut down from different domains; sometimes the name appeared as "123Movies", and other times as "123movies". The original name, and URL, was 123movies.to, which changed to other domains including 123movies.is before redirecting to gomovies.to and later gomovies.is.https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-streaming-site-123movies-rebrands-as-gomovies-170329/ Pirate Streaming Site 123Movies Rebrands as GoMovies (Updated) 2017-03-29 TorrentFreak en 2019-01-19https://torrentfreak.com/gomovies-moves-to-gostream-is-and-evades-google-ban-170714/ GoMovies Moves to GoStream.is and Evades Google 'Ban' 2017-07-14 TorrentFreak en 2019-01-19 It was changed to gostream.is, and then to memovies.to, before changing to 123movieshub.to/is and remaining there until shutdown. In October 2016, the MPAA listed 123Movies in its Online Notorious Markets overview to the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), stating that: "The site has a global Alexa rank of 559 and a local rank of 386 in the U.S. 123movies.to had 9.26 million worldwide unique visitors in August 2016 according to SimilarWeb data".https://www.mpaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/MPAA-Notorious-Markets-2016-Final.pdf Letter to Christine Peterson, Director for Intellectual Property and Innovation 7 October 2016 21 February 2019 Joanna McIntosh (Executive Vice President) The site has a global Alexa rank of 559 and a local rank of 386 in the U.S. 123movies.to had 9.26 million worldwide unique visitors in August 2016 according to SimilarWeb data. The site is currently using a chain of reverse proxy services in the United States, Iran and Romania to curb rights holders’ ability to identify its precise host. In October 2016, Business Insider reported that 123movies.to was the "most-used pirate website" in the United Kingdom.https://www.businessinsider.com/13-illegal-movie-tv-streaming-sites-blocked-in-uk-2016-10?r=US&IR=T 13 more illegal movie and TV streaming sites have been blocked in the UK Business Insider James Cook 28 October 2019 TorrentFreak points out that 123movies.to, one of the newly blocked sites, is actually the most-used pirate website in the UK. 21 February 2019 123Movies included HD, HD-RIP, Blu-ray and camera qualities of films. The video hosters and players it used included Openload, Streamango, and MyCloud. During its existence and shutdown period, the site was covered by TorrentFreak regarding its features, uptime/downtime, shutdown, and reasons for shutdown.https://torrentfreak.com/gomovies123movies-launches-anime-streaming-site-171204/ GoMovies/123Movies Launches Anime Streaming Site 2017-12-04 TorrentFreak en 2019-01-19 In December 2017, the creators of 123movies launched another streaming site dedicated to anime, named AnimeHub.to, which remained online for months after 123Movies's shutdown. Shutdown In March 2017, TorrentFreak reported that the US ambassador to Vietnam, Ted Osius, had been in talks with the local Minister of Information and Communications, Truong Minh Tuan, about shutting down illegal video streaming sites operating from Vietnam, and listed 123movies as one specific site.https://torrentfreak.com/us-ambassador-asks-vietnam-to-target-123movies-putlocker-and-kisscartoon-170323/ US Ambassador Asks Vietnam to Target 123movies, Putlocker and Kisscartoon TorrentFreak 23 March 2017 21 February 2019https://vnexpress.net/kinh-doanh/viet-my-hop-tac-chan-noi-dung-xau-tren-youtube-facebook-3559244.html VnExpress 22 March 2017 21 February 2019 [TRANSLATED] Vietnam - US cooperates to block bad content on YouTube and Facebookhttps://www.news.com.au/technology/online/piracy/the-worlds-largest-piracy-site-has-announced-its-closing-down-for-good-urges-people-to-buy-content/news-story/728380a53ddd4c7c576081b6a13f4d6d 123movies shuts down: Streaming giant warns users to stop piracy news.com.au Matthew Dunn 2019-01-19 123movies has previously attracted the attention of the office of the US Trade Representative, having been listed in its latest Notorious Markets report which highlights markets engaging in and facilitating substantial copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting. Last year the US Ambassador to Vietnam also requested the local Government criminally prosecute 123movies and other piracy sites running from the country. In October 2017, the MPAA listed 123Movies (and GoStream.is) in its Online Notorious Markets overview to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, stating that while the site was technically hosted from Ukraine that: "The site takes numerous steps to hide the identity of the operator, including using Cloudflare, but there is strong reason to believe the operator is still in Vietnam; content is uploaded using cyberlockers from numerous email accounts originating from Can Tho University of Medicine and Pharmacy".https://www.mpaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/notorious-markets-final.pdf Letter to Christine Peterson, Director for Intellectual Property and Innovation 2 October 2017 21 February 2019 Charles Rivkin (CEO MPAA) 123movies, now redirects to Gostream.is, the latest iteration of which is a very popular streaming website that embeds popular movie and series content from third-party cyberlockers. The site has undergone changes in 2016-2017, rebranding as gomovies in March 2017, and then the domain name registered as gostream in July 2017; it is believed this is due in part to highprofile pressure. Gostream currently has a global Alexa rank of 477 and a local rank of 170 in the U.S. Gostream (and its associated domains) garnered 18.45 million unique visitors in July 2017 according to SimilarWeb data.https://torrentfreak.com/why-did-the-worlds-largest-streaming-site-suddenly-shut-down-180401/ Why Did The World's Largest Streaming Site Suddenly Shut Down? 1 April 2018 TorrentFreak Ernesto en 19 February 2019 In March 2018, the MPAA said that the site was the "most popular illegal site in the world", stated it was operated from Vietnam and estimated that it received 98 million visitors per month.https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/world-s-most-popular-pirated-movie-site-being-run-from-vietnam-us-trade-association-3722948.html World's most popular pirated movie site being run from Vietnam: US trade association 15 March 2018 21 February 2019 An Nguyen VnExpress "Right now, the most popular illegal site in the world, 123movies.to (at this point), is operated from Vietnam, and has 98 million visitors a month," said Jan van Voorn, executive vice president & chief of Global Content Protection at the MPAA.https://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-brands-123movies-as-the-worlds-most-popular-illegal-site-180316/ MPAA Brands 123Movies as the World's Most Popular Illegal Site TorrentFreak en 2019-01-19 16 March 2018 Ernesto “Right now, the most popular illegal site in the world, 123movies.to (at this point), is operated from Vietnam, and has 98 million visitors a month,” Van Voorn said, quoted by VNExpress. On 19 March 2018, a note on the site's home page announced its shutdown, and urged users to "respect filmmakers by paying for movies and TV-shows".https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-streaming-giant-123movies-announces-shutdown-180319/ Pirate Streaming Giant 123Movies Announces Shutdown 19 March 2019 21 February 2019 Ernesto TorrentFreak According to a message posted on the site, it will close its doors at the end of the week. At the same time, the operators are now urging their users to respect filmmakers by paying for movies and TV-shows. Reappearance In October 2018, the MPAA's update on Online Notorious Markets to the United States Trade Representative, said that the closure of 123movies, 123movieshub, gostream, and gomovies, on foot of a criminal investigation in Vietnam in 2018, was "an important development" in combatting illegal film piracy services. However, the MPAA report also noted that numerous copycat sites had emerged in at least eight other countries.https://www.mpaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/notorious-markets-final.pdf Letter to Sung Chang, Director for Intellectual Property and Innovation 1 October 2018 21 February 2019 Charles Rivkin (CEO MPAA) An important development in 2018 was the shuttering of a ring of piracy services that had operated under the names 123movies, 123movieshub, gostream, and gomovies following the launch of a criminal investigation in Vietnam and significant industry engagement. Since its closure, many copycat sites have emerged. This ring of piracy services had been blocked in at least eight countries prior to its shut down and efforts are underway to shut down the copycats as well:https://torrentfreak.com/123movies-was-shut-down-following-a-criminal-investigation-181005/ 123movies Was Shut Down Following a Criminal Investigation 2018-10-05 TorrentFreak en 2019-01-19 In November 2018 TorrentFreak reported sites connected or similar to 123Movies such as WatchAsap had also been shut down by the FBI, but were re-directing to other file sharing sites.https://torrentfreak.com/is-there-a-mysterious-criminal-case-against-watchasap-181118/ Is There a Mysterious Criminal Case Against WatchAsap? 2018-11-18 TorrentFreak en 2019-01-19 Clones of 123Movies were also available in India despite authorities having blocked the main website.123Movies पर रोक के बावजूद जारी है पाइरेटेड फिल्मों का सिलसिला https://navbharattimes.indiatimes.com/india/123movies-hd-movies-website-is-still-online-even-after-ban/articleshow/65812044.cms Navbharat Times hi See also FMovies List of websites blocked in the United Kingdom Putlocker, similar online movie streaming network YIFY Torrents (or YTS), online movie file downloading network Popcorn Time, a freeware program allowing users to watch movies through torrenting on several platforms. Notes References External links MPAA Research on Notorious Markets Internet Freedom of speech Category:Film websites Category:Defunct video on demand services Category:Defunct websites Category:Companies with year of disestablishment missing Category:Companies with year of establishment missing Category:Streaming media systems Category:Internet services shut down by a legal challenge Category:Notorious markets Category:Internet censorship in India Category:Internet in Vietnam