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Anti-piracy organisation BREIN took 231 illegal sites or services offline in 2016, according to an announcement from the group.
This included 84 linking sites, 63 streaming portals, and 34 torrent sites, said the statement, released on Tuesday, January 10.
Additionally, BREIN removed 18 Facebook groups, including four groups of around 6,000 members and a secret Facebook group for the exchange of illegal e-books.
In November last year, TBO reported that Facebook removed nine piracy groups, which featured “several thousand music albums” without the permission of rights owners, after BREIN requested their removal.
Netherlands-based BREIN also obtained a total of 14 ex parte injunctions against illegal uploaders and providers, and reported more than 2.5 million searches for illegal content on Google.
The purpose of enforcement is the disruption of illegal supply and use, explained the anti-piracy organisation.
BREIN added that it uses a “full spectrum” approach, covering sites or services; uploaders; hosting providers; access providers; payment services; advertisers and agencies or networks; search engines; and end users or consumers.
BREIN, piracy, online copyright, copyright, infringement, settlement, Facebook