Why Pirate Streaming Sites Shut Down in 2026

2026 was the worst year in a long time for free streaming sites. Within a few months, HiAnime, MyFlixer, Sflix and Cineby – sites with hundreds of millions of visits a month – all went offline. Here is what happened to each one, why they fell at the same time, and what that means for you.

HiAnime: arrests after a long investigation

HiAnime (formerly Zoro, then Aniwatch) was the biggest anime piracy site in the world, with well over 150 million visits a month. It posted a goodbye message and went offline in March 2026. In July 2026, Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security announced seven arrests linked to the network behind it, after an investigation involving US Homeland Security Investigations, the US Department of Justice and the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE). According to the investigators, the group ran more than 100 piracy sites and earned about $12.8 million from advertising between 2020 and 2026.

MyFlixer and Sflix: the same network

The movie and TV sites MyFlixer, Sflix and HDToday stopped responding in spring 2026. In October 2026 the MPA said that MyFlixer, Sflix and the Megacloud video host were run by the same network as HiAnime – which explains why they all disappeared around the same time. Yet “myflixer” and “sflix” are still searched millions of times a month, and every one of those searches now ends on a copy.

Cineby: a planned goodbye

Cineby closed differently. With about 160 million visits in July 2026, it announced in August that “the time has come to stop” and shut down in stages: first its sister sites, then anime and sports, downloads and accounts – user data was deleted – and finally all domains went offline on 5 September 2026. The operators never gave a reason, but Cineby had been hit by court orders in the UK, Canada and India in the months before.

Why so many big sites fell at once

• Investigations reach the people, not just the domains. Blocking a domain is easy to get around; arrests and court orders that cover future domains are not.
• Networks run many sites. When one group runs anime, movie and video-hosting sites together, one investigation takes them all down.
• Size makes them targets. The bigger a site gets, the more it earns from ads – and the higher it climbs on the list of rights holders.

The real danger: copies using the old names

When a famous site closes, copies appear within days, using the same name and design to catch the people still searching for it. They are not run by the original teams, and many of them are worse: more pop-ups and redirects, fake “Play” or “update your player” buttons, requests to create an account or “verify” with a card, and apps or extensions that can be malware. If a site with an old name asks you to install anything or enter payment details, close it. Our guide on how to spot fake clone sites shows what to look for.

Every closed site on PirateMap keeps a status page that checks the original domain automatically, so you can see whether a “return” is real. You can follow all of them on our live site status page.

Where people watch now

There is no single replacement. Many users moved to apps like Stremio and Cloudstream, others to free legal services with ads such as Tubi, Pluto TV or Crunchyroll’s free tier. Before you trust any new site, check its review for ads and safety – the streaming and anime categories list every site we have tested.

FAQ

Are HiAnime, MyFlixer or Cineby coming back?

There is no sign of it. Sites that call themselves “the new HiAnime” or “Cineby official” are unrelated copies.

Why are the copies still on Google?

Because millions of people still search for the old names. Copies use that traffic to show ads – it does not make them safe.

How can I check if a site is really down?

Open its status page on PirateMap: it shows whether the original domain answers right now and links to tested alternatives.