Vietnam-based HiAnime.to, said to be one of the world’s largest Anime piracy operations and listed in the 2025 Notorious Market List published annually by the Office of the US Trade Representative, was shut down in April 2026, along with related mirror sites.
In July, it was announced that seven individuals were arrested; some of whom were detained by authorities and others given house arrest.
It’s not the first big win by ACE in the context of anime piracy. In March 2026, ACE secured control of AnimePlay out of Indonesia, including its app, its underlying infrastructure, 15 associated domains, source code, hosting environment, and related digital assets; now offline.
About the HiAnime case
Vietnam’s Police Department for Investigating Corruption, Economic Crimes, and Smuggling (C03) prosecuted four individuals on charges of Copyright Infringement and Related Rights and Money Laundering. An additional three individuals were accused of Copyright Infringement and Related Rights.
According to local reports, investigators found that over a six year period from 2020 into 2026, the group generated nearly $13 million in advertising revenue from more than 100 Web sites; from more than 26,000 unlicensed video works.
Proceeds were laundered into the personal bank accounts of the suspects.
According to reports, including from the Motion Picture Association through the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and C03 conducted a coordinated investigation of acts of intellectual property infringement involving copyright and related rights through the copying and uploading of films to the internet.
About HiAnime
According to the USTR’s 2025 Notorious Markets List, the HiAnime site provides pirated versions of popular movies and television, particularly anime. According to SimilarWeb, the site received over 244 million visits in August 2025.
HiAnime was reportedly a successor site to the previously popular site Aniwatch, which was listed on the 2023 NML. The Aniwatch site was itself a rebrand of the well-known zoro.to site. In
July 2023, right holders and anti-piracy trade associations shut down zoro.to, which was run from Vietnam, and thereafter the site apparently was rebranded as Aniwatch. The site was again rebranded to HiAnime in March 2024.
Why it matters
The July law enforcement action was part of a focus on violations of intellectual property rights, ordered by Vietnam’s Prime Minister; in which the dismantling of infringing Web sites has been one of several priority areas. Others include trademark and geographic violations.
Vietnam was listed as the highest priority trading partner in the USTR’s 2026 Special 301 report, for failure to provide persistent and effective enforcement to combat online piracy, lack of criminal measures against cable and satellite signal theft, and for other reasons.
Further reading
(LinkedIn Post about this law enforcement action). July 2026. Motion Picture Association – Asia Pacific. LinkedIn
The group that created more than 100 websites to upload 26,000 pirated movies has been arrested. Article. July 1, 2026. Bao Ha Tinh, Vietnam
Indonesia: App with 5 million registered users hosted over 60 TB of infringing content. Article. March 26, 2026. by Steven Hawley. Piracy Monitor
USTR 2026 Special 301 Report details IPT voncerns with 26 US trading partners, headed by Vietnam. Article. May 1, 2026. by Steven Hawley. Piracy Monitor.
USTR’s 2025 Notorious Market Report: Comments and rebuttals are in. Article. October 24, 2025. by Steven Hawley. Piracy Monitor
