HiAnime, the anime piracy site previously known as Zoro and Aniwatch, is permanently shut down, and Vietnamese authorities have arrested seven people allegedly behind it following a multi-year investigation involving US Homeland Security Investigations, the Department of Justice, and the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment as reported by Torrent Freak.
- Four alleged ringleaders face copyright infringement and money laundering charges; three others face copyright charges and are barred from leaving their place of residence.
- Investigators say the group ran over 100 piracy sites with more than 26,000 unlicensed titles, earning roughly $12.8 million in advertising revenue between 2020 and April 2026.
- The US has designated Vietnam a Priority Foreign Country over weak IP enforcement, which means the defendants could face stricter sentences than in past cases like Fmovies.
- No legitimate successor exists. Any site claiming to be HiAnime’s return is unrelated and exposed to the same enforcement pressure.
HiAnime spent years playing whack-a-mole with rights holders, rebranding from Zoro to Aniwatch and finally to HiAnime in 2024 whenever a domain seizure or blocking order got too close. That run is now definitively over. The site posted a plain-text goodbye message across its domains in March 2026 before going dark, and Vietnamese authorities have since arrested seven people allegedly behind the operation.
What the investigation uncovered
According to Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security, four alleged ringleaders are in custody on charges of copyright infringement and money laundering, while three more face copyright charges and have been barred from leaving their place of residence. The scale is what stands out: investigators say the group operated more than 100 piracy websites, hosted over 26,000 unlicensed titles, and pulled in roughly $12.8 million in advertising revenue between 2020 and April 2026.
HiAnime itself was the crown jewel. With a polished interface that borrowed liberally from Netflix and Crunchyroll, it drew well over 150 million visits a month, which made it an obvious priority for anti-piracy groups. The arrests cap years of investigative work by US Homeland Security Investigations, the Department of Justice, and the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), whose members include Amazon, Netflix, Walt Disney Studios, Sony Pictures, and Paramount.
Why the sentences could be harsher this time
The timing here is not accidental. Days before HiAnime went offline, the US Trade Representative named the site in its annual Notorious Markets report. In May, the USTR went further and classified Vietnam as a Priority Foreign Country over its failure to adequately address online piracy, launching a trade investigation in the process.
The same report criticised how Vietnam handled previous piracy prosecutions. The Fmovies case, run in collaboration with US enforcement, ended in suspended sentences and relatively low fines despite Vietnamese law allowing for substantial penalties and years of imprisonment. With trade pressure now applied at the national level and money laundering charges added to the mix, the seven defendants awaiting trial may find the courts far less lenient than their predecessors did.
What this means for anime viewers
Despite the usual community speculation that HiAnime will simply resurface under a new name, both ACE and Vietnamese authorities treat the network as dismantled. Any clone that appears claiming the HiAnime name would be an unrelated operation, and one launching into an enforcement climate that has clearly hardened. The Zoro-to-Aniwatch-to-HiAnime relay worked when the consequences were domain seizures; it looks considerably less viable when the endgame is arrest.
For viewers in the UAE, the legal side of anime streaming is in decent shape, with several licensed services carrying substantial catalogues. If you have been leaning on free sites, our sister publication PCMag Middle East has a rundown of the best anime streaming services available in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. And if your tastes run to adaptations rather than the source material, Netflix has done well by the genre locally — both seasons of the One Piece live action are streaming in the UAE.
The broader signal from this case is straightforward: cross-border enforcement against high-traffic piracy platforms is now coordinated, well-funded, and backed by trade policy. The days of a site shrugging off a domain seizure and reappearing a week later under a new name are, at least for operations of this size, drawing to a close.
FAQ
Why did HiAnime shut down?
HiAnime posted a plain-text goodbye message across its domains in March 2026 and went dark as a multi-year investigation by US Homeland Security Investigations, the Department of Justice, and ACE closed in. Vietnamese authorities have since arrested seven people allegedly behind the site and its wider piracy network.
What charges do the HiAnime operators face?
Four alleged ringleaders are charged with copyright infringement and money laundering, while three others face copyright infringement charges and are barred from leaving their place of residence. All seven are awaiting trial in Vietnam.
Will HiAnime come back under a new name?
Unlikely. The site previously rebranded from Zoro to Aniwatch to HiAnime to dodge enforcement, but authorities and ACE treat the operation as dismantled following the arrests. Any site claiming to be HiAnime’s return would be unrelated and vulnerable to the same enforcement pressure.
How big was the HiAnime piracy network?
Investigators allege the group ran over 100 piracy websites hosting more than 26,000 unlicensed titles, earning around $12.8 million in advertising revenue between 2020 and April 2026. HiAnime alone drew over 150 million visits per month.