Vietnam fines Netflix-style movie site US$2,600 for piracy
The Ministry of Information and Communication has fined a company VND60 million (US$2,600) for posting pirated movies and TV shows, including Hollywood blockbusters, on its streaming website, local media has recently reported.
The fine is double the usual amount for similar violations as inspectors have found a very large amount of pirated content on the popular hayhaytv.vn, run by Bach Trieu Phat Joint-stock Company, according to the reports.
The Ho Chi Minh City-based company was also ordered to remove all illegal content from its website, which was shut down on September 28.
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| A file photo of Hollywood films and TV shows produced by the US and Asian countries being seen on streaming site hayhaytv |
Bach Trieu Phat launched the website as a social network in 2012, allowing its members to upload and share movies and TV shows. But, the company was also found uploading a majority of streaming content.
Although the website could be accessed by anybody, members could choose to pay a small fee, around VND1,000 a day, to stream in higher quality and better speed without ads. Its membership reportedly reached thousands prior to the crackdown.
It is unclear what the inspectors planned to deal with Ho Chi Minh City-based Pine Multimedia Technologies, which was hired to take care of the website's technical infrastructure and suspected of illegally posting movies and TV shows as well.