Vietnam Arrests 7 Over HiAnime After Shutdown of Major Free Anime Streaming Site
HiAnime was one of the biggest free anime streaming destinations before it abruptly shut down earlier this year. Now, Vietnamese authorities have arrested seven people they allege were behind the pirate site’s operation.
The service’s design borrowed heavily from mainstream platforms like Netflix and Crunchyroll, offering a huge catalog of anime titles without charge. It reportedly pulled in well over 150 million visits per month, putting it on the radar of anti-piracy organizations. The arrests follow years of investigation into the piracy operation involving groups such as U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the U.S. Department of Justice, and the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE). ACE counts major entertainment and tech players among its members, including Amazon, Netflix, Walt Disney Studios, Sony Pictures, and Paramount.
Back in March 2026, HiAnime reportedly posted a farewell message in plain text across its domains before the site went offline. Vietnamese authorities have since arrested four alleged leaders and filed charges covering copyright infringement and money laundering tied to a pirate streaming network that ran more than 100 websites, including HiAnime. Three additional suspects were taken into custody on copyright infringement charges only. Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security, via its anti-corruption and economic crime unit, stated that the group distributed more than 26,000 unlicensed titles across its network and allegedly earned roughly $12.8 million through advertising.
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HiAnime’s shutdown didn’t happen overnight; it had spent years dodging efforts to remove the service and take control of its domains. The piracy operation previously operated under different names, first known as Zoro and later Aniwatch, before switching to the HiAnime branding in 2024. In 2023, ACE reportedly gained control of the Zoro.to domain, though it was after the operation had already moved to Aniwatch. The timing of the rebrand to HiAnime appears linked to attempts to fight back against takedowns, since it overlapped with India blocking multiple pirate sites, including Aniwatch, as previously reported.
Just days before HiAnime went dark in March, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) published its annual review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy, which referenced HiAnime on page 33. In May of this year, the USTR also labeled Vietnam a Priority Foreign Country, citing the country’s failure to address online piracy effectively, and it launched a trade investigation tied to that assessment.
While the USTR report acknowledged Vietnam’s earlier actions to shut down pirate services and arrest those responsible, page 44 suggested the resulting penalties weren’t strong enough. The document specifically pointed to outcomes from the Fmovies case, stating: “Vietnam recently had an uptick in criminal prosecutions against piracy operators in collaboration with U.S. enforcement authorities and stakeholders, which the United States hopes will continue. However, despite having criminal laws that provide for substantial fines and years of incarceration for copyright infringement, the defendants in recent criminal prosecutions received suspended sentences and were only ordered to pay relatively low financial penalties.”
The seven men tied to the HiAnime investigation are currently awaiting trial. If convicted on both money laundering and copyright infringement charges, their sentences could be tougher than what was seen in earlier Vietnamese online piracy prosecutions.
Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images.
Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.
