Content piracy: From entertainment to threat, the hidden face of the illegal streaming industry

Content piracy: From entertainment to threat, the hidden face of the illegal streaming industry

Illegal streaming is no longer a fleeting, individual act or a temporary attempt to circumvent paid subscriptions. In recent years, it has transformed into an organized and lucrative industry, backed by complex networks that capitalize on the growing demand for digital content and conceal real dangers that threaten the users themselves. This transformation is primarily due to the continuous rise in streaming platform prices, coupled with the fragmentation of content across dozens of paid services. Movies, series, and sports matches are no longer available on a single platform but are distributed across multiple subscriptions, making the monthly cost of access prohibitively expensive for a large segment of viewers. With the ease of access to pirated content, the seemingly seamless experience, and a lack of awareness of the real risks, many users begin to adopt this option. Over time, illegal streaming ceases to be an exception and becomes normalized behavior for large segments of the po…