Sports piracy made headlines this week when anti-piracy coalition ACE announced the shutdown of the world’s largest illegal sports streaming ring .

The operation, carried out by Egyptian authorities at the end of August, resulted in two arrests and the seizure of roughly 80 domain names.

A website carrying the ‘Streameast’ brand was one of the main targets. This was indeed one of the larger pirate sports streaming portals. However, reports by The Athletic and other news outlets concluded that the original Streameast site was shut down; that is not correct.

In reality, this week’s takedown targeted a massive ‘copycat’ network that simply copied famous ‘pirate’ site logos and branding to its own sites, to boost their popularity by passing off as the originals. This was corroborated by the operator of the original Streameast, who quickly clarified they have no connection to the seized sites or to Egypt where the enforcement action took place.

USTR puts a spotlight on Sports Streaming Piracy

While the distinction might seem minor, getting the facts right is crucial, especially when other prominent reports are also causing confusion.

In this light, it is good to see that the U.S. Trade Representative recently announced that sports piracy will be the focus issue for its upcoming review of significant piracy and counterfeiting threats. The annual “Notorious Markets” overview is compiled with help from copyright holders and can be used to motivate foreign authorities to take action, with the emphasis on “piracy of sports broadcasts” in 2025.

The MPA, parent organization of the ACE coalition, is a regular ‘notorious market’ contributor. In its most recent submission last year, the group did not mention Streameast by name. Instead, Librefutbol.su, Librefutboltv.net, and Buffstreams.app ^(*) were the only featured sports streaming sites in its recommendation.

With sports piracy as the focus issue, MPA may list more sports streaming targets in its upcoming recommendations. That will also be an opportunity to mention the shutdown of the world’s largest illegal sports streaming ring as a recent key achievement, perhaps with additional context.

Streameast vs. Streameast

Additional eyeballs on sports streaming presents a good opportunity to clear up the Streameast confusion.

After all, the original Streameast, which was targeted in a crackdown by U.S. authorities last year , remains online today. Perhaps that site is no longer considered a major threat due to more modest traffic, but the fact that it was targeted in a criminal investigation by the feds would at least warrant a mention.

The Premier League and BeIN may be able to help with that, as these rightsholders previously flagged Streameast.app (the clone) as a notorious market. With the clone sites now shut down, the original Streameast is picking up extra traffic and that will automatically bring it back into focus.

The U.S. Trade Representative’s call for comments on the 2025 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy is available in the Federal Register . The deadline for submissions is October 1.

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note: Buffstreams.app is one of the domains that was recently taken down, likely as part of the Streameast operation. It is now under the control of MPA/ACE. In last year’s USTR submission, MPA said that the operators were believed to be in France.

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.