INVESTIGATION: ‘Download Movies for Free’: Inside Telegram piracy scene costing Nollywood billions

Aduke Balogun, a schoolteacher during the week and a tailor on weekends in Omu-Aran, Kwara State, had been waiting for over four months to watch Behind the Scenes, Nigeria’s highest-grossing Nollywood film of all time.

Nigerian actress Funke Akindele, crowned the box office queen again in 2025, produced and directed the film. It tells the story of a woman who sacrifices her resources for her family and friends, only for them to exploit her goodwill for their self-interest. When she is struck by a medical condition, long-buried secrets begin to surface. The movie was released in cinemas nationwide on Dec. 12, 2025.

The earnest expectation for the film-lover Aduke was over in April, when the movie became available, not in the cinema but on Telegram. With immense joy, the 29-year-old downloaded it from a Telegram channel and joined online critics to poke holes in the plot and appraise other elements she found appealing.

“Soft download, no stress,” Aduke said, grinning as she showed me the video file on her smartphone. “I also shared it through Xender with my friends and my family.”

Like Aduke, more than 200,000 people access Nollywood films through NetNaija TV on Telegram. While some know, many are oblivious to the fact that Telegram is not an appropriate platform for film distribution and that downloading them is illegal.

Where the piracy began

The history of film production in Nigeria reveals that piracy has been a relentless, unconquered force. As far back as 1982, Orun Mooru, a film by Moses Olaiya, popularly known as Baba Sala, was hijacked by unlicensed exhibitors.

A decade later, Nollywood was born, and the popular Alaba Market in Lagos became the country’s hub of movie piracy. Filmmakers struggled to distribute physical copies of their films on Compact Discs (CDs) and Digital Versatile Discs (DVDs), which pirates reproduced in millions and shared among their networks across the country.

 

That era passed, but piracy endured. Today, digital platforms like Telegram have become the industry’s new piracy enabler. The app, created by Pavel and Nikolai Durov in 2013, now has more than one billion users. Its ability to transfer large files, alongside features such as end-to-end encryption, has allowed illicit activity, like sexual abuse and exploitation, to thrive.

Unlike the Alaba days, copyright thieves no longer need CDs, DVDs, or other physical infrastructure. All they need is a soft copy of a film, Telegram channels, channel administrators, and a steady stream of download links. They also need users like Aduke to keep consuming the pirated content they have birthed to keep the lights on.

“I believe they make money from us,” said Marvellous Ige, a student at Ibadan Polytechnic, who installed Telegram to download free movies through links on X, Facebook and TikTok. “There’s a condition to download mobile apps, especially sports betting apps and crypto, and use their referral codes before moving to the next stage of movie download.”

A chat with a Telegram pirate

To confirm how the people behind the scenes of Telegram piracy make a profit, I chatted with a pirate. In one of the groups, IMAX CHANNEL, with about 3,000 subscribers, there is an account for a private conversation about advertising placement. The account uses the username “Prime”.

I entered Prime’s DM under the guise of learning how to create my own piracy channel on Telegram and to place a musical advert on his channel. He promised to teach me how to get started, gather subscribers, and be unreachable by the law for ₦150,000.

For the advert placement, he also shared his rates, through which I collected his bank account details, making him identifiable and traceable. Advertising is one revenue stream that accompanies the convergence of a large audience through an unauthorised download process. Prime refused to disclose the other income streams. “That’s confidential,” he claimed.

Telegram has, for years, earned a reputation as the preferred piracy platform in Nigeria due to its channel-based ecosystem built on anonymity, speed, and repeatability. More importantly, those running the networks remain hidden. From my observations, this piracy ecosystem operates like a network, with public channels serving as the entry point for marketing and discovery of movies.

Official posters of films attached with blurbs, languages, starring actors, release years, and genres are shared as messages to thousands of subscribers on channels such as NETNAIJA-TV, NEW MOVIES 2023, HEADYHOUSE, and several others named after other recently released popular Nollywood films, like GINGERRR 2025 HD.

 

The attached links then direct users to private channels like MAINE NOLLYFILE 2.0, where the files are downloaded; the actual piracy scene is mostly supported by bots. integration. Backup channels are also maintained so operations can continue if the originals are reported and removed.

 

 

Industry observers point to multiple factors driving Telegram piracy, including Nigeria’s economic realities. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, more than 60 per cent of the country is multidimensionally poor. A survey report also disclosed that more than half of Nigerians spend almost 100 per cent of their income on food.

Another factor, they say, is the absence of cinema infrastructure, especially in Nigerian grassroots communities. “Even if I had the ticket money, I couldn’t have seen the movie,” Aduke said as we both walked past a local canteen with a signpost of popular actor Sanyeri eating. There is no cinema in her entire local government area. The first cinema in her senatorial district opened only recently, miles away from where she lives.

Aduke’s experience reflects that of millions of Nigerians. FilmOne’s 2024 Nigerian Box Office Yearbook found that only 102 cinemas operate nationwide, with Lagos accounting for 36. Fifteen of Nigeria’s 36 states have no cinema at all.

 

While the film audience is entertained, the filmmakers are unhappy

 

Piracy is often viewed through the lens of revenue loss. According to industry estimates, Nollywood loses about ₦7.5 billion annually to piracy. Yet the problem remains deeply entrenched. Yemi Ayebo, who produced the legendary ‘Yemi My Lover’ in 1993, said the film made him popular but broke. Piracy, combined with distribution challenges of old Nollywood, meant he never made meaningful returns.

Several other filmmakers have reported and even had outright outbursts on social media, complaining bitterly about piracy. Toyin Abraham described how awful an experience it was for her when she saw her ₦500 million film ‘Malaika’ appear on Telegram. Her team worked to remove the links, and five suspects were eventually arrested for unlawful distribution and copyright infringement.

In 2017, “October 1” by Kunle Afolayan was pirated before the movie even premiered in the cinema. Thereafter, Afolayan has been inconsistent with cinema releases but has been successful on streaming platforms, which are also not exempt from piracy.

 

 

Taiwo Edunjobi, a Nollywood filmmaker, produced The Fire and the Moth in 2025. The thriller, which featured prominent actors such as Jimmy Jean-Louis, Tayo Faniran, and Ini Dima-Okojie, premiered exclusively on Amazon Prime Video but was later found on Telegram.

Beyond lost revenue, poor-quality pirated copies distort audiences’ perceptions of films. Taiwo said, “The public develops a wrong opinion of the film while viewing such works. Because most of the time, the films are recorded in low quality.”

While some filmmakers suspect insiders, Taiwo thinks it reflects a mastery deficit.  “The technology that supports piracy is greater than the technology that stops piracy.”

Through commission, he was able to produce the full-length movie and was slightly saved from the financial losses that Telegram piracy would have cost him. But the streaming platforms take the fall.

In January 2024, Amazon Prime, a major streaming platform, laid off all its employees across African countries. Netflix also scaled back its operations with an indefinite pause on commissioning original films by local producers. While the companies complained mainly about the inability to recoup money and obtain sufficient return on investment, industry observers believe piracy is a contributor.

Amazon Prime mentioned an insufficient number of active subscribers, low acquisition of new ones, and downward retention of existing subscribers. Why?

Every illegal stream, unauthorised download, or pirated IPTV subscription represents potential lost revenue. The same goes for cinemas when the public chooses illegal Telegram offerings over cinema outings.

Interestingly, filmmakers shifted to YouTube, where Nigerian films are legally available for free, with the download of films in standard and HD quality. This evolution has helped democratise film creation, distribution, and earnings. Yet, even those YouTube films are downloaded and redistributed through Telegram, often in ‘higher data gigabytes’, suggesting that many viewers have become accustomed to consuming films there, as seen in this tweet’s reaction.

“They (pirates) show our movies on places like Telegram, with many people watching at low bandwidths because they’re saving on their cherished data,” said Omoni Oboli, a prolific actress and producer known for her YouTube channel. “I understand why, but those who watch on these platforms must also understand how they hurt content creators when they can’t even watch the ‘free’ YouTube movies.”

Temilolu Fosudo was born into Nollywood and has chosen to follow the path of his father, Professor Sola Fosudo, who has worked in the industry for more than three decades. Temilolu’s wife, Wumi Tuase-Fosudo, is an actor as well. Together, they have produced short films and stage plays. He believes piracy can never be eradicated from the Nollywood scene because the problem is international.

 

“Even the biggest film industries in the world still struggle with it [Telegram piracy]. What we can do is reduce it by strengthening distribution, improving enforcement of copyright laws, making films easily accessible through legitimate platforms, and educating audiences on the value of supporting creators,” Temilolu said.

“The stronger the industry becomes, the harder it is for piracy to thrive,” he added.

 

What does the law say?

 

Nigeria’s constitution frowns on the theft of creators’ intellectual property. Copyright infringement, illegal digital file sharing and piracy are dealt with in the Copyright Act, 2022. The Act grants creators exclusive rights to distribute their work and disallows unauthorised reproduction of copyrighted material. The crime is punishable by a fine or five years’ imprisonment.

Kabir Adeyemo, an entertainment lawyer who described piracy as a “cancer” eating up cells in the Nollywood industry, said the legal framework already exists, but enforcement remains the challenge.

He, however, pointed to successes like arrests of people caught recording films in cinemas, citing the “Everybody Loves Jenifa” pirate arrest in 2024. Another case is the takedown of NetNaija, a pirated movies website, which was shut down in September 2023. Emmanuel Analike, its chief executive, was also remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre.

Taiwo stated that new cinema distribution technology has significantly reduced piracy in theatres. For the streaming platforms, however, Telegram’s setup and features continue to make it difficult to sabotage. “When Telegram deletes a channel, the people infringing the materials can still easily upload, update, or even open another channel to continue the illegal distribution of films,” Kabir said with a sigh.

He suggests that the fight against Telegram piracy be channelled to the platform itself for persistent allowance of copyright infringement, without the exemption of  “individuals behind the illicit systems. Both should face the wrath of the law.”

Nonetheless, Telegram has never been confronted by Nigerian law, unlike other climes, where there have been cases like the one involving an entity in Israel taking legal action against the platform.

To find out about the efforts of the Nigerian government, I reached out to the Executive Director of the National Film and Video Censor Board, Dr Shaibu Husseini. For years, the agency has been saddled with the responsibility of regulating the industry and has made remarkable progress. But with the rise of platforms like Telegram, MovieBox, and others, the agency’s efforts to conquer piracy seem like a wink in the dark.

Like Taiwo, Shaibu said there’s no adequate technology and funding to deal with the digital piracy uprising. “It is not like in those days when our staff would be going from shop to shop to check which film was pirated, which film was licensed, and the rest. Now there are no shops,” he said. “Your phone is your shop. How many phones can we really confiscate?”

Another challenge, in his consideration, is the law. Piracy should be treated like a criminal offence: “It is just like stealing somebody’s money or putting a gun to somebody’s head.” Hence the need for amendment of the law: “So by the time you know that you are going to prison for 30 years, 25 years for stealing intellectual property, there will be a change.

“Not only five years or two years’ imprisonment or even payment of a fine, because most of them are ready to pay the fine.”

Shaibu, who is also an academic, settled for media literacy campaigns as a solution. The agency has street walks, media interviews, and social media campaigns on the dangers of piracy. “Now we have come to ‘speaking’ to people’s conscience,” he said.

I also reached out to the Nigerian Copyright Commission, created by the Copyright Act for its enforcement on June 23, 2026. The agency responded, but only after four reminders and six weeks.

Although the agency does not adopt a holistic prosecution approach, according to its response, it has a Special Taskforce Against Online Piracy, shortened to S.T.O.P. “It serves as the commission’s dedicated initiative for online piracy monitoring, stakeholder engagement, intelligence gathering, compliance review, and support for digital enforcement activities involving copyrighted works distributed through websites, IPTV services, messaging platforms, social media, mobile applications, and other online channels.”

The commission encouraged rights holders, producers, publishers, authors, broadcasters, software developers, collective management organisations, and members of the Nigerian public to report suspected online copyright infringement early enough for actions to be carried out before damage.

However, I reported the pirate (Prime), but no response was given.

 

 

Nabil N. S., Chief Operating Officer of BLOCK X Technologies, an organisation fighting digital piracy across the world, said that Telegram benefits from content piracy, directly or indirectly. “In many emerging markets, particularly across Africa, access to exclusive entertainment content is a major driver of platform adoption,”  Nabil said. “Piracy channels serve as a free user-acquisition tool for Telegram to boost their daily active users and overall valuation.”

Holding Telegram Accountable

To grasp how Telegram is approaching piracy and its partnership with the national justice system to fish out individuals behind the piracy groups, I sent an email to Telegram on June 15, 2026. I sought to understand why the piracy of Nigerian films persists on the platform and the efforts they are making to address the existence of such illegality.

Telegram had not responded as at the time of publication, despite two follow-up emails.

During the course of this investigation, a number of Telegram channels were deleted. A click on them says, “This group is unavailable due to copyright infringement.” Nevertheless, a good number of movie piracy groups still thrive within the Telegram space.

 

 

Meanwhile, Chukwu Martins, an actor, indie filmmaker, and founder of the Film Rats Club, thinks differently about piracy. His stance on Telegram piracy is that the copied movies attract more viewers and help build actors with a cult following.

“It is a two-sided coin,” he said. Damage is the effect when mainly financial reward is anticipated from the movie’s release, but “people who know how it works can take advantage of piracy.”

“Creatives are using it (piracy) as a means of publicity for their films,” Chukwu said.

 

This article was published under the Tech Justice and Platform Accountability Project of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), with support from Luminate.