The latest survey by the Danish Chamber of Commerce revealed that over 50% of the country’s youth have accessed pirated materials in the last two years.
Despite Denmark cracking down on the local pirate hosting platforms three years ago, the citizens are relying on other sources to get pirated stuff online. Most noted social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube being the new source of pirated content in the survey.
More People Seeking Pirated Content After Crackdown
Three years ago, a series of raids and arrests by the Danish government cracked down on many locally-run pirate sites. This initiative was led by Rights Alliance, an anti-pirate group that declared victory after this wipeout. But to its dismal, the problem has only got bigger since then!
As noted by the Danish Chamber of Commerce, the latest bi-annual study to track the piracy habits of locals revealed that more citizens are interested in piracy now than earlier. Roughly 33% of the respondents admit to having downloaded or streamed a pirated version of something in the past, with 15% of them doing that in the last year.
This figure is up from 12% during the previous survey in 2020 and 10% in 2018. MOverhalf of the 15-29 year-olds admit they have downloaded or streamed pirated content in the past, while this stat drops at 50-74 year-olds category to just 74%. Overall, men are twice as likely to have pirated something than women in the past year, says the survey.
Many said they streamed the pirated content on social media instead on standalone apps or websites. This is due to the Denmark government’s crackdown earlier, pushing the pirates to serve their content over social media platforms. People noted YouTube as the most significant piracy gateway, followed by Facebook, TikTok, messenger services, Instagram, and Snapchat.
Regarding this shift, Rights Alliance director Maria Fredenslund asks the social media platforms to take more responsibility to counter the growth of piracy. She said;
“Now that the police’s [Special Crime Unit] has stopped the dedicated Danish file-sharing services, it is a real shame that illegal consumption is moving to legal social media”.
