China ‘busts film and TV piracy ring’ in Renren Yingshi subtitle site raid
- Police allege criminal gang set up several companies and had more than 8 million users registered on its site
- 14 people detained as fans worry the flow of uncensored foreign screen content with quality subtitles will be cut off
Police in the Chinese city of Shanghai have busted an alleged piracy gang and detained 14 people suspected of pirating more than 20,000 Chinese and foreign television programmes and films, China’s official media reported.
Shanghai police said on Wednesday that the alleged criminal gang worked with Renren Yingshi which operates China’s largest subtitling site YYeTs.com and had at least tens of millions of followers around the world.
According to Shanghai police, the suspects were detained in Shandong, Hubei and Guangxi provinces after a three-month investigation.
“Investigations showed that the suspects set up several companies engaging in the distribution, operation and maintenance of the ‘Renren Yingshi’ mobile app and a related web portal by setting up or leasing servers in China or overseas since 2018,” the Communist Party’s mouthpiece, People’s Daily, reported on its website on Wednesday.
People’s Daily reported that over about two years the gang gained more than 8 million users registered on the site.