Editorial: Dangers of digital piracy

It is estimated that the Indian cinema industry is facing a loss of at least Rs 22,000 crore a year due to movie piracy

The details emerging from a piracy racket, unearthed recently by the cybercrime wing of the Hyderabad police, are just the tip of an iceberg. The problem of movie piracy is widespread in India, resulting in huge losses to the entertainment industry. The police recently arrested Immadhi Ravi, the mastermind behind the movie piracy website ‘iBomma’, and dismantled an elaborate operation involving uploading and distribution of the pirated Telugu films and OTT content. It was found that Ravi was running the website from the Caribbean islands. The crackdown followed complaints by the Telugu Film Anti-Piracy Team and several film producers against the widespread circulation of newly released movies on ‘iBomma’. Earlier in September, the police arrested five persons accused of orchestrating the illegal distribution of high-definition film prints. These arrests are a big step forward in the fight against digital piracy. For producers who spend years and crores creating films, hiring hundreds of daily wage workers, junior artists, and technicians, piracy is not just theft — it’s a death knell for the industry. It is not just about revenue losses but also about crushed dreams, unpaid wages, and shuttered production houses. It is estimated that the Indian cinema industry is facing a loss of at least Rs 22,000 crore a year due to piracy. Piracy infringes on the rights of the original creators. Despite several initiatives taken by governments, including amendments to the Cinematograph Act, digital platforms continue to be flooded with pirated content.

According to a study by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI and Ernst & Young, pirated content from movie theatres alone is around Rs 13,700 crore annually, while Rs 8,700 crore is from piracy of OTT platform content. A potential annual GST loss due to piracy could be around Rs 4,300 crore. Nearly 51 per cent of media consumers reportedly access content from pirated sources. Streaming services are the largest source of pirated content, accounting for 63 per cent, followed by mobile apps (16 per cent) and other sources like social media or torrents (21 per cent). Given the rapid growth potential of India’s media and entertainment (M&E) sector, such large-scale piracy poses a serious threat to future economic growth. The fact that a large chunk of consumers say they might switch to legitimate platforms if made more affordable or free with ads suggests that piracy is partly driven by affordability and accessibility issues. There are multiple challenges in the war against piracy. Many piracy sites are hosted outside India on servers in foreign jurisdictions or use the CDNs (content delivery networks) that obscure their real location. This complicates takedown efforts and makes legal action and seizure difficult. It is a misconception that pirated content is free. The websites offering free movies are traps baited with stolen content, designed to harvest personal data, spread malware, and funnel victims toward online gambling and financial scams.

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