Pirate Site Cuevana to Voluntarily Shutdown Due to MPA Pressure

• One of the largest piracy streaming websites in Latin America announced its intention to close.
• The Motion Picture Association played a role in the heavy legal pressure targeting the pirate movie platform Cuevana.
• Its operators intend to give their domains to MPA after the association reported the Cuevana to the U.S. government.

The operators of Cuevana.biz, one of Latin America's largest piracy streaming sites, known for its extensive catalog of unauthorized movies and TV shows, have announced an impending voluntary shutdown. The admins plan to hand over its domains to the Motion Picture Association (MPA).

This decision comes after sustained pressure from the MPA and its anti-piracy partners, the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE). The closure of Cuevana.biz represents a significant win for content creators and rights holders in the ongoing battle against digital piracy. 

With an estimated 100 million monthly visits, the site has been a major player in distributing pirated content across Spanish-speaking regions. However, history suggests that the shutdown may not mark the end of the Cuevana brand, as previous closures have often led to the emergence of new pirate platforms under similar names.

The voluntary shutdown signals a potential shift in the fight against online piracy, highlighting the increasing pressure and reach of the MPA and ACE in enforcing intellectual property rights. It also underscores the persistence of piracy websites, which have historically reemerged under different domains, continuing to pose challenges for rightsholders aiming to protect their content.

The MPA and ACE have lauded the decision as a positive development, emphasizing the importance of protecting both large and independent creators from the impact of piracy. 

A September MPA anti-piracy submission focused on hosting companies, CDN providers, advertisers, and domain registrars, which are often involved with pirate sites, either knowingly or unknowingly, and lack proactiveness in enforcement efforts.