The world’s largest illegal sports streaming platform has been shut down in a major piracy sting, according to multiple reports.
Streameast, which drew about 1.6 billion visits across 80 different domains over the past year, was taken down on August 24 in a joint operation involving The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), a coalition of media and entertainment companies, along with Egyptian law enforcement.
According to The Athletic, two Egyptian men were arrested and charged with copyright infringement. Authorities also uncovered links to more than $6 million connected to the operation, Sportico reported, and seized laptops, smartphones, and other devices used to stream the games.
“ACE scored a resounding victory in its fight to detect, deter, and dismantle criminal perpetrators of digital piracy: by taking down the largest illegal live sports platform anywhere,” said Charles Rivkin, chairman of ACE and CEO of the Motion Picture Association.
“With this landmark action, we have put more points on the board for sports leagues, entertainment companies, and fans worldwide — and our global alliance will stay on the field as long as it takes to identify and target the biggest piracy rings across the globe.”
Streameast’s rise and fall
Streameast became well-known for illegally streaming NBA, NFL, and MLB games, as well as major soccer matches in Europe and South America, according to Deadline. It also offered streams of boxing, MMA, and motorsports.
The site averaged around 136 million monthly visits worldwide before being taken down. The investigation that led to the bust lasted more than a year.
Fans react to the shutdown
While ACE and its members — which include Amazon, Netflix, and Paramount — celebrated the crackdown, Streameast users took to social media to vent their frustration.
“An actual tragedy,” one X/Twitter user wrote.
“RIP Streameast man. Painted as criminals by the media now, but heroes to sports fans everywhere providing access to watch stuff when entertainment networks kept charging asinine amounts of money,” said podcaster Brett Marshall.
“We can’t get aid in some countries but they got a sting operation to shut down StreamEast. I hate this world,” another person posted.
“Streameast dead the day before the NFL season. I blame Roger Goodell, Jerry Jones and Putin in no particular order,” added fantasy football writer Ian Hartitz.
“Cheers, you did your big one… you’ll be missed Streameast,” another commenter wrote.
