Results of the Fight Against Piracy in 2024: The Clear Sky Initiative on Blocking Russian Media Services, a National Blacklist and Fines of 3 Million Hryvnias
The Clear Sky Initiative is an anti-piracy association that has been operating since 2013. Its priority areas are the protection of intellectual property on the Internet and the cleansing of the media space from hostile propaganda. In 2024, the initiative ensured the recognition of a number of pirate sites as media services of the aggressor state, their blocking and termination of funding. The results of anti-piracy activities are discussed later in the material.
Last year, the Law of Ukraine “On Media” came into force, which provides for the prohibition and blocking of access to Russian sites by telecommunications providers. Thanks to the appeals of the Clear Sky Initiative, in 2023 the National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting recognized more than 200 services and sites as hostile, including HDrezka, Filmix, Baskino, KINOGO, Kinokrad, ГидОнлайн, Kinotochka, KinoZapas and others. As studies have shown, after the ban on pirate cinemas, legal Ukrainian OTT platforms increased their audience to 2 million people.
In 2024, the blacklist of media services of the aggressor state was supplemented by popular pirate streaming services Shara-TV, IPTV ONLINE, AntiFriz, TVBOOM, ILookTV and their mirrors RuLook, ZeDom, MeLord, VipDrive, JinoPro, ISeeTV, TVLider. The initiative is working to add a number of resources that broadcast Russian channels (Viks.tv, Online TV, Tivix, Telik.Live, Debilizator.Tv) and several hundred popular movie sites that offer access to films and TV series of the occupying state to this list.
“Using Russian services in conditions of full-scale war is unacceptable, as are resources that violate copyright. This harms the economy and the personal safety of viewers. Our global goal is to create a transparent and safe media environment and a developed Pay TV market in Ukraine. Banning pirated resources is an important part of this work,” commented Vyacheslav Mienko, head of the anti-piracy Initiative “Clear Sky”.
During the year, the association monitored the blocking of banned sites among the largest Internet providers, recorded violations and initiated unscheduled inspections by the communications regulator (NKEK). In total, 26 inspections were carried out, most of which confirmed the elimination of shortcomings.
The “Clear Sky” Initiative also succeeded in implementing a new tool for depriving pirated resources of funding — a ban on advertising on sites that violate intellectual property rights and are included in the Ukrainian WIPO ALERT blacklist. We remind you that, according to the amendments made in 2023 to the Law of Ukraine "On Advertising", placing gambling advertisements on websites from the WIPO ALERT list is punishable by a fine of 300 minimum wages, i.e. more than 3 million UAH.
Another milestone of the association's activities in 2024 is the initiation of criminal proceedings against content thieves from different regions of Ukraine. Currently, more than 40 criminal cases are pending in investigative bodies and courts. This year, 2 guilty verdicts have already been issued. In particular, one of the violators was sentenced to probation for large-scale copyright infringement.
Among the priorities of the "Clear Sky" Initiative for 2025 is the expansion of the National List of Prohibited Websites that Violate Intellectual Property Rights and synchronization of its own blacklist with it. It is also planned to monitor advertising on pirated resources and impose fines on violators. In addition, the Clear Sky Initiative will continue to cooperate with law enforcement agencies: the Cyber Police Department of the National Police of Ukraine and the Security Service of Ukraine.
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