User:ChihiroAyasato/YY English TV Shows

Renren Yingshi (Chinese: rén rén yǐngshì 人人影视) (English: YYeTs, where YY refers to "everyone" and ETS represents "English TV Shows"), is a Chinese mainland subtitle group website. On 3 February 2021, the Shanghai Public Security Bureau publicly announced that the Renren Yingshi subtitle group was being investigated for copyright infringement of film and television works, leading to the arrest of 14 individuals.

Website History
The precursor to the website, YYeTs subtitle group, was founded in 2003 by a Chinese Canadian international student known as "Xiaogui Shen" (小鬼神). In June 2006, the YYeTs American TV series forum was launched, officially renaming itself to Renren Yingshi in 2007. Liang Liang (梁良) served as the administrator of Renren Yingshi and also the head of the animation group. It claimed to be a non-commercial organisation for enthusiasts with the mission of sharing, learning, and progressing. Renren Yingshi was one of the earliest and most influential subtitle groups in China, consistently providing translated subtitles and resource downloads for foreign films, TV shows, and open courses.

Due to copyright issues, the website faced threats of closure multiple times. In 2009, Renren Yingshi was investigated for pirated resources, leading to the shutdown and rectification of 111 domestic audio-visual program service websites, including "Eden," "BT China Alliance," and "Youyou Niao." Renren Yingshi announced a transformation of its website, removing video downloads and providing subtitling services only. In December 2010, China Newsweek reported on Renren Yingshi's translation of Yale University's open courses, hailing it as "disseminators of knowledge in the internet era". Around 25 April 2013, influenced by the shutdown of the Sīlù Wǎng (思路网) film and television website around World Intellectual Property Day, Renren Yingshi announced temporary closure of its website.

In October 2014, Renren Yingshi was named in a global audio-visual piracy investigation report by the Motion Picture Association of America. Renren Yingshi responded on Weibo, stating that due to copyright pressures, it would completely remove all unauthorised resource download links by the end of November, however the post was quickly deleted. On the afternoon of the 22nd, the website announced that it had temporarily closed the site and blocked IP addresses in mainland China. Access could be achieved by changing the hosts file. In the following days, some users reported that the website could still be accessed from mainland Chinese IPs, and the announcement was modified, stating the official closure of the Chinese site with the possibility of establishing an global site. In December, Renren Yingshi shut down all global servers, and with attempts to access the site using foreign IPs resulting in DNS lookup failures. At the same time, Renren Yingshi officially announced its closure on Weibo.

In mid-January 2015, some netizens discovered that the Renren Yingshi official website was still closed but displayed a mysterious countdown on its homepage. The slogan for this countdown was "About to transform, stay tuned!"

At noon on 6 February 2015, Renren Yingshi announced on Weibo that it would transform its American TV series community and rename it relaunch it as "Renren Meiju" (人人美剧).

On 16 December 2016, the Renren Yingshi subtitle group announced its formal withdrawal from "Renren Meiju," stating that it had no connection with "Renren Video" (rén rén shìpín 人人视频).

In January 2020, Renren Yingshi was forcibly taken down by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, listed as an "App enterprise engaging in activities that infringe on user rights." It was reinstated three months later. On 1 March 2020, Renren Yingshi's servers were urgently shut down and resumed normal operation the next day.

Closure Events
In September 2020, Renren Yingshi was investigated by the Economic Investigation Division of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau, in collaboration with the Hongkou Public Security Sub-Bureau. The Shanghai police found that people were downloading and watching pirated films through the Renren Yingshi subtitle group's website and client.

On 4 January 2021, the Renren Yingshi subtitle group website announced in a statement that it was cleaning up content and thanked everyone for their support.

On 6 January 2021, Shanghai police, along with police in Shandong, Hubei, Guangxi, and other regions, arrested 14 core members of Renren Yingshi, including Liang Liang. Simultaneously, the website's servers were again shut down. On 3 February 2021, Shanghai police publicly announced the case as a "‘9.8’ major cross-provincial copyright infringement case of film and television works," jointly supervised by the National Copyright Administration, the National Office for the Fight Against Pornography and Illegal Publications, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Supreme People's Procuratorate. Shanghai police revealed that Renren Yingshi had over 8 million registered members and the case involved an amount of over 16 million RMB.

On 31 August 2021, the Renren Yingshi subtitle group website announced the complete removal of film and television resources and temporary suspension of the app.

On 22 November 2021, Renren Yingshi subtitle group founder Liang Yongping received a first-instance judgment from the Shanghai People's Procuratorate, sentencing him to three years and six months in prison and a fine of 1.5 million RMB for copyright infringement.