Plex is a media player and server. It is one of the favorite tools of IPTV managers and other download sites. This will soon change, as the company’s leaders have decided to take action.
Plex is often accused of facilitating the sharing or distribution of illegally downloaded content. Although Plex Media is, as perfectly legal media player and media streaming serviceits features are often misused for purposes of broadcasting pirated videos on all types of devices.
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The leaders of Plex Inc. have decided to actively fight against this phenomenon. Many Plex app users report receiving an email telling them thatthey will soon no longer be able to access certain Plex servers from their account. The company will close access to hosting services having committed large-scale violations of the terms of use of the service.
Plex directly attacks server hosts containing pirated content
In the email shared on Reddit, the company informs users that “an upcoming action may affect their installation of the Plex Media server […] The IP address associated with a Plex Media server on your account appears to come from a service provider hosting many media servers that violate our terms of service. NOT“We will block access to and activity on the servers it hosts.” From Thursday October 12, 2023 therefore, the offending media servers will be inaccessible from a Plex client.
To choose the servers to block, Plex collaborated with rights holders and their representatives, who shared with her a list of companies renting servers containing copyrighted and illegally shared files. Customers of Hetzner, a German hosting provider, are among the first victims of this new policy, but the list of affected people is likely to grow in the coming weeks. Indeed, banning access to the services of pirated content hosting providers may be a victory in the fight against illegal downloading and streaming, but many perfectly honest customers of these companies may no longer be able to fully benefit from services offered by Plex.