Anti-Piracy Wars: The NCC Suspension of MovieBox and Implications For Nollywood 

The war against piracy of intellectual property appears to be taking a new dimension, with the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), in association with the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), issuing a ban on moviebox.ng, a notorious digital platform that has come under fire for its illegal film and music streaming activities, including popular Nollywood titles. According to an official announcement, the suspension was in effect from  July 20th, 2025 and constitutes part of the commission’s Stand Together Against Online Piracy (STOP) campaign.

Prior to this suspension, MovieBox, with its website, has offered unauthorized access to copyrighted films, leveraging a downloadable app through which users could stream domestic and foreign productions. Through its activities, the platform violated Nigeria’s Copyright Act of 2022, which safeguards against irresponsible digital distribution of original content.  In a report, the NCC, under the leadership of Director-General Dr John Asein, noted that MovieBox made use of complex strategies to avoid  detection, especially the use of clone and fallback domains. By encouraging and facilitating unethical and cheap streaming activities, the platform posed a problem to the business of Nollywood, jeopardizing standard distribution operations, for instance streaming platforms like Netflix, Prime Video, Showmax and Circuit TV, that allow filmmakers and stakeholders to earn optimally.

According to a UNESCO report, Nollywood, the world’s second largest film industry by production volume, boasts an annual revenue of at least 5 billion dollars, yet forfeits a substantial part of this income to piracy activities. Historically, particularly from the 1990s to early and mid-2010s, the industry was plagued with counterfeit video cassettes and DVDs and illegal local vendors and distributors, but the introduction of digital platforms, including SVODs and YouTube, has multiplied the problem—with alternative dubious sites such as NetNaija, 9jarocks, and MovieBox offering free access to new releases and disrupting the revenue system in place for the authentic mainstream players. Owing to easy accessibility, economically disadvantaged Nigerians boycott the industry-standard subscription-based streamers for these illegal platforms.

Nollywood filmmakers and investors have been hit with the devastating effects of piracy. On different occasions, New Nollywood torchbearer Kunle Afolayan decried the menace. In 2015, he took swift actions, which included contacting the NCC and other security agencies after he learnt about the piracy of his films, Phone Swap and October 1, on the streets in Nigeria. Just last year, Toyin Abraham and  Seun Olayemi, producers of Malaika, lodged a criminal complaint concerning the fraudulent distribution of their film, which was then in the cinemas, via a web link—leading to the police arrest of suspected individuals.

While  the suspension of MovieBox website may be taken as a step in the right direction, it comes with short and long-term ramifications for Nollywood. First, it reinforces the responsibility of the NCC towards upholding the Copyright Act of 2022. Her partnership with NiRA proves to be a positive one in tackling copyright infringement and protecting the business interests of Nollywood practitioners. The launch of the STOP campaign earlier this year reminds us of the collective responsibility of industry stakeholders, government agencies and telecommunications operatives in protecting the integrity of the creative industry.

The crackdown on MovieBox website is a triumph for authorized local distribution channels and international streaming platforms operating within the Nigerian film ecosystem. Platforms like Netflix, Prime Video, Iroko TV and Showmax could strengthen their market interest and experience a revenue surge. However, going forward, they must address affordability and accessibility concerns, tailoring their services, including subscription costs, to meet the demands of local content consumers. Partnering with local producers to explore affordable legal routes will also be helpful to discouraging intellectual theft.

The suspension of MovieBox website should be perceived as a temporary solution, because digital pirates are capable of adapting by creating new websites. As such, there is a need to address underlying problems that encourage people to mastermind and consume pirated content. Here, the Nigerian government has a responsibility to provide employment opportunities and  institute developmental initiatives geared towards improving the standard of living of the masses. With this action, the average Nigerian can, then, afford to pay for the right streaming services, engage responsibly with the film market, and will be unmotivated for cybercrime.