TikTok: Growth of piracy in the new social network

Currently, we are in full swing of tools to access illegal content, including social networks. These platforms, known to pirates, facilitate the expansion of illegal content, as is the case with TikTok, one of the most recent networks in which the ability of its publications to go viral allows almost any content to be within reach.

TikTok allows its users to publish small fragments of videos, in which we can see Video On Demand, Highlights, summaries and even live broadcasts of football matches or any other sporting event, content that without the proper complaint procedure, can last over time without disappearing.

Ever-growing piracy

According to the latest study published by the Observatory on Piracy and Digital Content Consumption Habits, traditional forms of consumption have declined, giving way mainly to social networks. In this case, the decrease in consumption through search engines decreased from 58% to 55% in just one year, while in this same period social networks have increased from 27% to 29%, confirming that they are the main way of growth of online piracy.

Within social networks, Facebook is the leader among networks in terms of consumption, with 46%; followed by YouTube, with 38%. However, the same study reserves a space for new networks, among which are platforms such as TikTok and Telegram, with a consumption close to 16%.

This information is very important due to how young this social network is and because, at first, it seemed to have more control in terms of its posts. However, piracy has managed to infiltrate the network without any inconvenience.

How do they do that?

Each pirate has a defined strategy that allows them to bring their content to the largest possible audience. In the case of TikTok, match summaries are the main source of piracy and whose posts end up leading us, in 80% of cases, to external pages where you can consume the live event or the 24/7 host channel.

Also the promotion and access of Internet Protocol TV and Apps, are sources of access at the hand of anyone in this social network. They usually make posts promising access to thousands of channels through a single platform worldwide and at an extremely low cost, which makes the engagement with the post even higher and allows it to go viral in a matter of seconds.

The data speaks for itself

During 2023, we have detected posts that have exceeded up to 10 million views and that showed content protected by copyright. Something that, without a doubt, affects not only the growth of the official channels on these social networks, but also ends up directly affecting access to the consumption of this content through their platforms.

In addition to the views, the followers of these illegal accounts usually see a constant increase for the same content they offer. Only in 2023, during the protection of the Betplay Dimayor League in Colombia, through Smart Protection we have identified accounts that can together add more than 3 million followers.

The same study carried out by the Observatory of Piracy and Digital Content Consumption Habits, mentions that during 2021 in Spain, illegal access to the consumption of football, through digital platforms, represents losses close to 201 million euros, which would mean an increase of 18% in the value of the industry.

The solution for this problem

However, at Smart Protection we have been working non-stop to identify the behavior of hackers in this type of emerging network and we have created a series of mechanisms that allow us to quickly detect and report hacking.

So far in 2023, we have removed more than 1,758 posts with hacking-related content on TikTok, which had gathered more than 80 million views.

Thanks to these actions, Smart Protection is part of the companies accredited by TikTok, which carry out content protection and anti-piracy actions. Being able to be part of this group allows our complaints to be analyzed preferentially by the Tik Tok team, giving it the importance and speed it deserves.

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