There are many groups designed to illicitly watch full-length movies. Facebook, however, is already moving to curb the phenomenon
Facebook Video Parties have been a huge success since their inception. The feature was released in November 2018 worldwide and allows groups of people even far apart to watch and comment on the same video in real time by connecting to the social network. Unfortunately, according to some statistics the feature encourages piracy.
The survey published by Business Insider found that there are several private Facebook groups created for the purpose of pirating and watching full-length movies, but also TV series or other content. Users enjoy watching programs and movies of all kinds, from the latest to the great classics. The most popular ones so far are Her or Mean Girls or even Twilight. Of the latter there is even a group of fans who enjoy watching the various episodes.
Facebook Watch Party and piracy: opportunity makes the man a thief
In the article published by Business Insider, reference is made to specific Facebook groups created to watch TV series, movies, documentaries and programs of all kinds. In the text there is no lack of names of groups and pages that exploit the Watch Party function to pirate copyrighted videos. Of course, within these communities there are thousands of users who write to each other specifically to enjoy a film or other content, perhaps just released in theaters or on channels such as Netflix or Sky. The illicit intention is expressed right from the name of the single groups, with communities designed to gather fans of specific products: from the Twilight saga, to Gordon Ramsay’s cooking programs.
How is Facebook moving to stop piracy?
All the groups mentioned in the Business Insider article, however, were eliminated from the platform immediately after the publication of the investigation. Facebook also immediately reacted to the news through a statement from spokeswoman Carolyn Thomas. She confirmed that the company has always been committed to fighting piracy on Facebook and particularly in Video Parties. The platform relies on some tools such as notice-and-takedown, a function designed to block for those who make repeated actions against the Facebook policy. Despite the measures taken to combat piracy, intercepting cases of copyright infringement on Facebook is very difficult. For this reason, the Menlo Park giant has invited users to always report any wrongdoing noticed within the platform. Only with collaboration can watch party piracy be curbed.