Vietnamese authorities have arrested and are prosecuting seven individuals suspected of operating HiAnime, a prominent anime piracy service that was shut down in June. The group is accused of copyright infringement and money laundering.
HiAnime offered a vast collection of anime with English subtitles and dubs without requiring a subscription. The service gained significant popularity, attracting hundreds of millions of monthly visitors and, at times, surpassing legal streaming platforms like Disney+ and Crunchyroll in web traffic between late 2024 and 2025.
The piracy operation began under the Zoro.to domain. It was later rebranded to Aniwatch and moved to Aniwatch.to in July 2023, before undergoing another change in March 2024 to HiAnime/H!Anime, utilizing the HiAnime.to domain. Due to its widespread reach, HiAnime was recognized on the European Commission's Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List and the United States Trade Representative's Notorious Markets list.
The seven defendants face charges related to infringing copyright and related rights, as well as money laundering. Four individuals have been detained, while the remaining three are under house arrest. Authorities allege that the group created over 100 websites to host more than 26,000 pirated anime films. Between 2020 and April 2026, these sites reportedly generated approximately $12.85 million in illegal advertising revenue.
The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), a coalition representing over 50 major media and entertainment companies, confirmed the law enforcement action. ACE acknowledged the support of U.S. authorities, including Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Department of Justice, in the multi-year investigation that led to the arrests.
ACE specifically commended the efforts of Vietnam's Ministry of Public Security, particularly its Economic Crimes Investigation Department (C03) and the Department of Cybersecurity and High-Tech Crime Prevention (A05). The organization expressed its commitment to continuing collaboration with Vietnamese authorities on future actions against piracy services.
This action follows a similar operation earlier in the year when ACE announced the shutdown of AnimePlay, another significant anime streaming platform. AnimePlay hosted over 60 terabytes of anime content and had more than 5 million registered users. ACE dismantled AnimePlay by taking down its entire infrastructure, including servers and web domains.
