Roku’s latest piracy crackdown took things a little too far

[Archiee]

Roku accidentally cut off user access to Netflix and YouTube this week, as part of an anti-piracy push gone wrong.

Some users attempting to access the two video apps were greeted with the following warning: “FBI Anti-Piracy Warning: Unauthorized copying is punishable under federal law. Roku has removed this unauthorized service due to repeated claims of copyright infringement.”

As you can imagine, users were more than a little confused. Fortunately, it was the result of a mistake.

Roku quickly issued an apology on Twitter, saying it had experienced a “technical glitch”. It has now fixed the issue.

“Netflix and YouTube are working along with most channels in the Channel Store. Go to Settings> System> System update> Check now. For some channels, you may need to log in again,” the company wrote in a subsequent update.
It appears that Roku was deliberately targeting some completely different channels when the Netflix and YouTube apps were unintentionally blocked.

“We use that warning when we detect content that has violated copyright,” the company told Cnet.

“Some channels in our Channel Store displayed that message and became inaccessible after Roku implemented a targeted anti-piracy measure on the platform.”