American filmmakers have expressed alarm over the popularity of video streaming site LokLok in the Philippines and its Southeast Asian neighbors.
In a comment submitted this month to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) for its 2024 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) included LokLok among what the Hollywood industry group considers as illicit streaming devices (ISDs) or piracy apps and devices providing illegal access to TV shows as well as movies.
MPA cited that LokLok "has grown significantly in popularity in Southeast Asia in recent years, and particularly in the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia."
"According to SimilarWeb, loklok.com and loklok.tv attracted 1.6 million and 112,808 monthly visits from 875,914 and 25,139 unique visitors respectively in August 2024. Even though it has been taken down repeatedly in the Google Play Store, new app listings have quickly reappeared," MPA noted.
MPA suspects that LokLok was developed by Chinese operators in the mainland "who evaded local detection and enforcement action by geo-blocking access to China-based IP [internet protocol] addresses."
Boasting as "the global voice and advocate of the motion picture, television, and streaming industries," MPA counts among its members Hollywood's who's who studios—Netflix Studios LLC, Paramount Pictures Corp., Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., Universal City Studios LLC, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, as well as Warner Bros. Discovery.
Separately, Singapore-based Asia Video Industry Association (AVIA) also lamented LokLok's popularity in the region.
"Since 2023, the rise of the pirate service LokLok in the Asia-Pacific has become of increasing concern to AVIA and our members, with it now ranking in the top 3,000 most visited sites in Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore. Our initial concerns were over the LokLok app, which contains an extensive amount of unauthorized AVIA member-companies' content," it said.
"AVIA and its members have had numerous successful conversations with app stores regarding the removal of the app, however, each removal would invariably see the app return with a slightly different name. AVIA continues to discuss this issue with app stores," it added.
It did not help that LokLok was also able to redirect its website whenever AVIA had it blocked.
In response, Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) Director-General Rowel S. Barba told the USTR in an Oct. 16 comment that "as to the LokLok app/website mentioned by MPA, the government is aware of its existence and how it provides pirated content to the public."
"However, no complaint has been filed against it. IPOPHL welcomes any engagement from rights holders to address piracy committed through this app/website," the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)-attached agency that enforces and oversees the overall implementation of IP rights, patents and trademarks said.
In a separate comment submitted to the USTR for its 2025 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers, MPA lauded IPOPHL's efforts to fight internet piracy.
"The Philippine government has recognized that online piracy is a major threat to both the local and international audio-visual sectors and has made noticeable efforts to implement a more robust intellectual property enforcement regime," MPA said, citing support from IPOPHL and Philippine senators to pass a site-blocking regime law.
"A voluntary site-blocking MOU [memorandum of understanding] framework was rolled out in 2023. Applications are made to IPOPHL, which then orders a site to be blocked, whereupon, under the authority of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), the internet service providers (ISPs) initiate blocking," it noted.
"Earlier this year, MPA was the first complainant to obtain a site-blocking order against 11 domains associated with the notorious YTS network of piracy sites, under the voluntary site-blocking regime. However, piracy apps and services targeting the local market, such as LokLok and HiTV, remain a concern," it added.