Egyptian piracy operation shut down by authorities with three arrested

Four high-profile pirate operations in Egypt have been shut down.

beIN Media Group, working with the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), have praised the shutdown of four major illegal live sport operators in Cairo: Goalarab.com, Yalla-Shoot-7sry.com, yalla-shoot.us, and yallashoot-news.com.

The four websites were visited by more than 4.8 million users globally in May, with 24 million users globally watching illegal content stolen from beIN Sports channels since the start of 2022. Almost half of the global visits to these sites came from users in Egypt.

Some 60 Egyptian police officers, supported by the Egyptian Ministry of Internal Affairs, arrested three individuals and seized their domains, assets and IT equipment. The domains are now controlled by ACE, which redirects users to watch content on legal platforms. 

Jan van Voorn, executive vice president and chief of Global Content Protection for the Motion Picture Association and head of ACE, said: “The successful action against these four illegal piracy operations highlights the real-world value of the new partnership between beIN and ACE. Working together, we have the network, the resources and the expertise needed to tackle the serious threat piracy poses to media companies all over the world and to protect the legal marketplace for content creators.”

A spokesperson for beIN said: “Broadcasting piracy threatens sport now and in the future; these sites take funding away from sports fans, players and clubs of all levels and leagues. Actions like those undertaken by Egyptian law enforcement agencies are a huge victory. In concert with ACE, we collectively have the means to support takedowns of this nature throughout the region, and will continue to do so to protect the leagues, fellow broadcasters and the entire sporting ecosystem.”