AnimePlay, one of the largest illegal anime streaming apps in the Asia-Pacific region, has been taken offline.

The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) announced the shutdown on March 27, 2026. The app had more than 5 million registered users and hosted over 60 terabytes of anime content. It operated out of Riau, Indonesia since 2020.

How ACE Took Down AnimePlay

ACE didn’t just pull the plug on the app itself. The coalition seized control of the entire operation, including 15 domains, backend servers, databases, and 29 GitHub repositories containing full source code.

The operator admitted to being the sole developer and administrator behind AnimePlay. He surrendered everything to ACE including servers, ad tools, source code, and all related digital assets. If you visit the original AnimePlay website you will notice that nothing works.

AnimePlay Clones Already Filling the Gap

Despite the takedown, AnimePlay clones and copycat apps are already circulating online. This is a familiar pattern in the piracy world – authorities shut down one platform and ten more appear in its place. The source code was public on GitHub for years, making it even easier for copycats to spin up new versions.

Anime has a massive global fanbase, and free streaming apps fill a gap that legal services don’t always cover. Many titles aren’t available in certain regions, and subscription costs add up when content is spread across multiple platforms.

Final Thoughts

ACE continues to rack up ‘wins’ against piracy operations around the world. This takedown was thorough as they seized the code, the servers, and the domains.

Still, the clone problem proves that shutting down one app doesn’t eliminate the demand behind it. Until media companies make anime more accessible and affordable across regions, this cycle will keep repeating itself.

For more details on this story, refer to the official press release from ACE.

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