MPA and Nelson Mandela University partner on Africa piracy research

The Motion Picture Association (MPA) and Nelson Mandela University have formalised a research partnership focused on digital piracy across Africa, signing a Memorandum of Understanding that establishes a framework for joint research and consulting projects. The collaboration is the MPA's first of its kind on the continent.

The initial project, led by the South African Cultural Observatory (SACO), hosted at Nelson Mandela University, will examine the cybersecurity risks consumers face when accessing pirated content in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria. The research aims to generate locally grounded evidence on the relationship between illegal streaming services and threats such as malware and fraud. No timeline for publication or methodology details were included in the announcement.

The case for evidence-based enforcement

Karyn Temple, Senior Executive Vice President and Global General Counsel of the MPA, said the research was timed to inform live policy debates. "As discussions continue in South Africa around effective enforcement tools, including site blocking, this first-of-its-kind research will provide important, locally grounded evidence about the risks and real-world consequences of piracy," she said. Temple added that the MPA's goal was to "turn evidence into action," supporting enforcement measures it describes as concrete, effective and proportionate.

Nelson Mandela University Vice-Chancellor Professor Sibongile Muthwa said the collaboration sat at "the intersection of technology, culture, consumer safety and the creative economy," and reflected the university's commitment to research relevant to African society. SACO Executive Director Unathi Lutshaba noted that frontier technology was evolving rapidly and said the partnership gave regional researchers "direct access to global expertise on these questions, at a time when they matter more than ever."

Market and regulatory context

The backdrop is a fast-growing African streaming market, where legitimate services from global platforms are competing against an extensive grey-market ecosystem of pirate sites and IPTV resellers. Cybersecurity vendors have documented for several years that illegal streaming portals are a common distribution channel for adware, credential-harvesting scripts and cryptomining payloads, though published data specific to sub-Saharan African consumers remains sparse. The SACO-led study is positioned to fill that gap.

Site blocking is the central enforcement mechanism the MPA is advocating in South Africa, a tool that has faced legal and procedural scrutiny in multiple jurisdictions. The UK, Australia and Portugal have established relatively mature blocking frameworks; South Africa has not yet enacted comparable legislation. A locally sourced evidence base is a standard step in the policy preparation playbook for rights-holder bodies seeking to advance similar measures through national legislatures. The collaboration also arrives as the EU's Digital Services Act obliges platforms operating in Europe to take a more rigorous approach to illegal content, a regulatory trend that African policymakers are observing closely.

Next steps

The MPA works alongside Netflix, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Universal Studios, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros. Discovery and Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios. Those members have made increasing investments in African original content production, adding commercial weight to the case for stronger enforcement. Researchers and policymakers in the region will be watching for the scope, methodology and independence of the forthcoming study, given that the MPA is a direct funder of the collaboration and a commercial stakeholder in its conclusions.