In a move to crack down on the illegal streaming of National Basketball Association (NBA) matches, a subreddit forum has been shut down after a number of repeated copyright infringements.
The Reddit forum, which boasted over 400,000 subscribers, was found to be illegally streaming matches with the NBA aware of the forum for over three seasons and had made repeated requests to have the page removed during the NBA marquee events.
Following its closure, the page has been replaced with a message that reads: ‘This subreddit was banned under Reddit’s Repeat Copyright Infringement Policy.’
And although the page has led users to find a temporary alternative, the shutting of the page shows a real intent in the battle against illegal sports streaming.
As it stands, the Reddit policy states that illicit, pirated material will be removed and that repeat infringers will be banned, though subreddit moderators are warned before any action is taken.
A similar subreddit forum was closed down earlier this year after it had been found to be streaming a number of football matches to its 425,000 subscribers. The platform was removed for breaching the site’s user agreement.
Commenting at the time, a statement from the R/soccerstreams’ moderator detailed: “We’ve officially reached critical mass. I regret to inform you all that a few days ago the Reddit Admins got in touch with us about an impending ban of this subreddit if changes weren’t made.
“The only way to save it, from our perspective, was to cease all user-related activity here. Due to this, and to save the history behind this subreddit over the years, r/soccerstreams will now serve as a home base for the official Soccer Streams mod team.”
