The hype of streaming services has increased in recent years. These streaming services offer the convenience of getting all your favourite TV shows and movies along with live sports and documentaries from the comfort of your own home.
With all this content available, it is hard to distinguish legitimate streaming sites from illegitimate ones. You can either take recommendations from online guides such as Streamingrant’s guide or keep a look out for tell tale signs mentioned in this article while choosing a streaming service.
Here are 10 signs to look out for while using streaming sites. You might be streaming on an illegal site if you notice any of these signs.
Streaming site red flags
- Rookie web design
Illegal streaming sites usually have websites that look like a basic template. These streaming companies don’t put much effort into their website design and proofreading. If a streaming site features a lot of easy-to-spot errors, there is a high chance it is an illegal streaming site.
By keeping an eye out for grammatical errors, inconsistent fonts, and even additional unnecessary content added to the website. These errors can help you determine whether a website is legal or illegal.
- Pesky pop-ups
Imagine this: you get on to a streaming site, only to be bombarded with a plethora of ADs, pop-ups, special placement, and even ADs on the video player themselves. Sounds annoying, right? But this is a clear giveaway for an illegal streaming site.
Since these sites don’t earn their money from streams, they focus on placing ADs throughout the website to earn money. So if you stumble on a streaming site with ADs all over, you, my friend, may be on an illegal streaming website.
- In-theatre titles – Available on website
As odd as it sounds, illegal streaming sites have been seen to carry movies that are still in theatres. Illegal streaming sites do this to get more viewers to spend time on their sites. As a form of competition between illegal streaming sites, new and exciting content, even of the lowest quality, is uploaded to entice viewers.
It is important to note that credible streaming sites feature content based on publishing rights. So you would never find titles that movie companies have yet to give publication rights to streaming services.
- The link shell game
Picture that you want to watch a particular movie, and you click on its link only to be redirected to another page with another link and so on until you get so frustrated that you just give up on the title altogether.
Such is the case with illegal streaming sites. If you see that you have to follow and unfollow links to view content, there is a high chance you are on an illegal site.
- Site disclaimers
If the streaming site you are on has disclaimers placed in their about us or their help section, there is a high chance you are on an illegal website. Suppose a site claims they only link viewers with movies and don’t own any content. You can conclude that it is not a legitimate site. The site owners put these disclaimers to overcome any legal issues.
- Domain address – Red flags.
If you notice that your streaming has a weird domain name or an address that doesn’t end with dot com. The lack of clarity is a red flag that you are on an illegal streaming site. So if your streaming site has a weird name or domain, it’s time to close it. It is illegal.
- Your browser displays hints.
Designers of web browsers are always working hard to tighten up browser security. Web security is why whenever you visit a website with malware or potential illegal activity, your browser features a warning.
If the streaming site you are visiting features browser applications, there is a high chance that the website is illegal. You should look for another streaming site.
- Special software downloads.
Is the streaming site you are on asking you to download special software to watch your movie on, Run? This special software can be from an unidentified location, potentially harming your device.
Legitimate streaming sites have clear explanations for asking you to download additional software or drivers, whereas illegal streaming sites encourage you to download additional software without a proper explanation.
- The “Free” emphasis
Since the primary purpose of illegal websites is to maximise their clicks. These sites rely on buzzwords such as free to emphasise Ad clicks and software downloads. If your streaming site features the word free after every sentence, just close the browser, nothing is free, and you only add the risk of malware. It is an illegal streaming site.
- They require “Jailbroken” devices to play
If your streaming site requires a Jailbroken device to stream on, there is a high chance that although it is cheaper, it is still going to cause harm to your device and data. The idea of a Jailbroken device is to get a device at a lower cost to use streaming sites for free. These devices leave you open to hackers who can easily steal your data.
Protect yourself from hackers, and choose an original device.
Conclusion
By choosing to opt for legal streaming sites, you are spending your money on quality content and saving yourself from scammers and hackers. Illegal streaming sites can open you to malware, viruses, and even hackers.
We hope these signs can help you clear from illegal streaming sites. Save yourself and your stream. Always choose credible streaming services that will provide you with safe and legal streams.
