Pirates are always on the lookout for new ways to get their pirated content, and it looks like Facebook is now inadvertently providing a helping hand.
Pirates are setting up "Watch Parties" on Facebook for the airing of pirated content, such as the eagerly awaited new episodes of Game of Thrones, and Facebook has been slow to take action.
Hundreds of thousands of viewers are flocking to these illegal streams, with the added bonus that the Watch Party also injects an element of social mingling into the piracy frenzy.
With Facebook a relative newcomer in the video streaming scene, it appears they are unequipped at the moment to deal with the deluge of piracy activity. Unlike on YouTube, where similar piracy streams are removed almost as quickly as they are created, many of Facebook's piracy streams are up for days after their initial posting.
And it's not just new content that's been streaming on Facebook, there are also watch parties for classic TV shows and movies. Fortunately, some of these are perfectly legal, as Facebook has acquired the rights to shows like "Firefly" for the exact purpose of promoting their Watch Party feature.
For the illegal streams though, Facebook will most likely have to start taking these seriously and implement a system much like YouTube's Content ID that proactively scans and takes down content deemed to be violating copyright.
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