The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) states that it has secured the suspension of MovieBox.ng, an online platform known for streaming pirated copyrighted materials including movies, music, and live sports from Nigeria and other countries.
The NCC stated that the achievement was made possible with support from the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), the Nigerian Registry for the country’s top-level domain.
Director General of NCC, Dr John Asein, stated that the suspension, effective from 20th July 2025, has been praised by right owner associations in the movie, music, and broadcast industries as a positive development, demonstrating Nigeria’s commitment—through relevant agencies and stakeholders—to its renewed fight against online piracy.
A preliminary report issued by the commission described the illicit operations as indicating a coordinated attempt to sustain piracy through clone or fallback domains. It also demonstrated a coordinated effort by the website to evade detection and takedown by using multiple mirror domains to promote and access copyright-protected content, with a domain history that aligns with known piracy activities.
Dr Asein thanked NiRA for its responsiveness and urged other stakeholders in the online space, particularly Internet Service Providers and intermediaries, to consistently act responsibly and swiftly in removing notices and blocking directives as mandated by the Copyright Act, 2022.
“In the meantime, the commission is also taking steps to make sure that other mirror sites for the platforms are deactivated,” Asein said.
The commission advised the public to be wary of pirate sites that promise free streaming and downloads, as they not only infringe on copyright but also target unsuspecting users, exposing them to malware, financial scams, identity theft, and other fraudulent activities.
The copyright commission earlier in the year launched the Stand Together against Online Piracy (STOP) campaign, urging all stakeholders – government agencies, ISPs, telecom operators, and industry leaders – to unite as frontline enforcement partners to safeguard creative content and secure the country’s digital future.
