MPAA’s Attempt To Take Down Subreddit Sort Of Backfires

Every now and then we hear about how organizations like the RIAA and MPAA try to take down links and websites that they claim infringe upon copyrighted material. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t, although in this case it seems like a semi-success for both the pirates and the MPAA.

According to a report from TorrentFreak, the MPAA had recently tried to get Google to wipe out the Full Length Films subreddit from Google search. The subreddit had been largely inactive for a while now and it seems like the MPAA would have been better off just letting it die out quietly. However by asking Google to takedown the links to the subreddit, it seems that the MPAA’s efforts have revitalized the subreddit.

For those unfamiliar with Full Length Films, it basically provides users with links to online sources where they can watch full length movies legally/illegally. Some of these movies come from legitimate sources, while others might simply be illegal uploads onto YouTube, and presumably it is the latter that the MPAA were interested in.

However due to the MPAA’s request, traffic to the subreddit had tripled to 6,000 visitors in a day. According to the subreddit’s creator, he claims that he had forgotten that the subreddit even existed. In fact one of the top posts on the subreddit reads, “The MPAA told me about this awesome sub! Thank you!”

Now like we said, this is a semi-win for both the MPAA and the subreddit community. While it has revitalized the page and brought a ton of attention to users who did not know about it before, its creator has changed the policies and brought in a few moderators who will clean up the links and ensure that only legal links will be allowed from now on.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Web
Tags: Piracy