US Government Lists Aniwatch As Most Dangerous Streaming Site
Streaming platforms like Crunchyroll have made it easier for anime fans around the globe to watch their favorite shows from the comfort of their screens. But, despite these companies’ efforts, still a huge number of people watch anime from illegal websites and Aniwatch is the pioneer of this piracy business.
Aniwatch is reportedly one of the most popular sites for streaming anime illegally across the globe and is a rebrand of the piracy website zoro.to which was shut down in July 2023. The site gets such a large number of traffic on it every day that it has caught the attention of the United States federal government.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), an agency that looks after developing and promoting American trade policy, recently conducted an annual overview of the world’s most significant and problematic piracy websites, and put out the 2023 edition of its piracy watchlist.
Titled the “2023 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy”, the list highlights some of the most notorious names of online and physical markets that allegedly engage in unlawful activities or facilitate substantial trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy.
The list featured long-established bigwigs like 1337x, Vegamovies, and The Pirate Bay, and alongside these well-known sites was anime piracy website Aniwatch (aniwatch.to) which made it to the 2023 edition for being at the forefront of online piracy in the previous year.
“This year’s Notorious Markets List is significant because it underscores the potential dangers of counterfeit goods and why robust enforcement to combat trade in these goods is important to growing our economy from the middle out and the bottom up”, said US Trade Representative Katherine Tai.
She also mentioned that pursuing piracy site owners and shutting down the websites needs to be taken seriously so that the root of infringing content and illegal conduct can be taken out. Trademark counterfeiting and piracy are at an all-time high, and authorities are taking the situation into their own hands now.
While agencies are trying to increase public awareness and help market operators and governments, it’s high time that anime watchers also start encouraging official streaming platforms and stop promoting illegal websites to support the workers and businesses behind the intellectual property.
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