World’s Largest Illegal Sports Streaming Site StreamEast Taken Down
Streameast, the world’s largest illegal sports streaming site with around 1.6 billion users, was shut down after a police raid in Egypt.
Written by Jackie Leavitt (Editor at Large)
Reviewed by Aleksander Hougen (Chief Editor)
Last Updated:
StreamEast and its more than 80 related domains were taken offline after Egyptian police tracked down and arrested two men allegedly responsible for running the sites over the past 15 years.
StreamEast is by far the largest illegal sports streaming website in the world, generating 136 million monthly visitors on average, with the largest share of visitors coming from the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, the Philippines and Germany.
The investigation and subsequent legal operation on August 24 seems to have been conducted by Egyptian law enforcement in collaboration with the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), a coalition of copyright holders that includes major streaming services like Amazon, Apple TV+, Netflix and Paramount.
Speaking about the operation, Charles Rivkin, chairman of ACE and chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association (MPA) said that ““ACE scored a resounding victory in its fight to detect, deter, and dismantle criminal perpetrators of digital piracy: by taking down the largest illegal live sports platform anywhere.”
Although the site has been taken down and two men have been arrested, the investigation is still ongoing. Authorities are reportedly investigating multiple Egyptian properties suspected of being tied to the case, as well as a shell-company in the UAE that was allegedly used to launder advertising revenue from the streaming site.
All StreamEast domains redirect now to an ACE information page that suggests over 140 legal streaming options instead.
Users accustomed to using StreamEast to stream sports for free and without geographical restrictions are unlikely to find a good alternative among ACE’s official streaming options. Lucky for you, we also have the best StreamEast alternatives guide, which includes both free and paid alternatives.
Despite celebrations by media organizations, there are still numerous mirror sites of StreamEast that are still up and running, easily accessible with just a few minutes of internet sleuthing. As we’ve seen before with legal action against sites like The Pirate Bay, combating online piracy sites is much like fighting a hydra; you cut off one head and two more appear before you’ve even finished taking a victory lap.