iQIYI tackles piracy in Malaysia with month-long #JanganTontonHaram campaign

IQIYI International has tied up with Malaysia's National Film Development Corporation (FINAS) for a month-long anti-piracy campaign called #JanganTontonHaram. The campaign aims to galvanise a public movement around addressing content theft and digital piracy, bringing consumers into the heart of tackling one of the leading threats to Malaysia’s rapidly growing entertainment industry.

The company's country manager for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, Dinesh Ratnam, said #JanganTontonHaram is a grassroots approach to combating content theft and digital piracy and is a digital-led campaign centred around several pillar initiatives.

IQIYI and FINAS will work together with Yusof Haslam, Namron, Adrian Teh, Syazwan Zulkifly, Bront Palarae, Amelia Henderson, Daniella Sya and other actors and producers for a series of public service announcement videos and social media activations designed to rally their fan base and drive participation in the movement.

At the same time, a dedicated microsite will host impact statement videos from those reeling from content piracy and fraud; educational tips on how to detect illegal sites and activities, keep data safe, and details legal implications to deter people from getting involved in organised crimes.

Additionally, Ratnam said iQIYI created a crowd-policing initiative #HelloPoliceiQ to provide the public with a safe space to report illegal sites and sources that stream content pirated off iQIYI and other legal content platforms. The crowd-policing stems from the fact that as soon as an illegal site is taken down, another starts up. It is also inspired by crowdsourcing campaigns.

"By putting consumers at the centre of the anti-piracy movement, we hope to disrupt piracy where it hurts the most - the demand and consumption side," Ratnam said.

Malaysia's entertainment and media industry previously claimed that it loses RM3 billion annually due to digital piracy, with RM500 million in taxes and thousands of jobs at risk. FINAS deputy chairman Norman Abdul Halim said while it has conducted several awareness campaigns on piracy before, none of the campaigns provides incentives to those who can report piracy activities. "#JanganTontonHaram puts consumers at the centre of the anti-piracy and FINAS welcomes and supports this initiative," he said.

Aside from the digital activations, consumers can also use the hashtag #HelloPoliceiQ at any pirated link shared on social media. Once validated, they will receive a free iQIYI VIP account. To encourage crowd-policing and mass participation, iQIYI will run tiered lucky draws based on the number of pirated links reported. Among the list of prizes include Beats Flex earphones, Apple Airpods and iPhone 12 Pro Max.

Separately, a woman pleaded guilty in February this year to a charge of possessing six TV media boxes which allowed for illegal streaming of Astro’s content via the internet. The accused was later fined RM30,000. Meanwhile on 8 February, an IT company in Shah Alam was the first company to be charged in court for selling technology or equipment for the purpose of the circumvention of technological protection measure. 

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