When you search for free movie streaming sites online, you get a list of websites like 123Movies or GoMovies. But are these free movie and tv streaming sites safe? Are they even legal?
There are many free movie streaming sites online, and 123Movies was the most popular amongst all.
Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) published a list of “notorious websites” on 18th March 2018. The MPAA listed many infamous sites like Piratebay including 123Movies.com, GoMovies, 123MoviesHub, and others.
MPAA states 123 Movies as one of the most popular illegal movie and TV streaming website in the world.
Why Do I See 123Movies Alternatives in Google?
Even though 123Movies was a popular website for watching movies and TV shows, it was not legal. Any website that streams TV shows and movies for free is not legal per se.
Why there are so many sites like 123Movies come up when searched for 123 movies in Google? It’s due to the popularity.
123Movies was a popular online media streaming platform, so much so that it had more than 95 million visitors per month. Almost 8 million people search for 123Movies per month on Google. No wonder why there are thousands of replica websites of 123Movies are live.
With such a huge number of searches per month, 123Movies offers a great opportunity for many white-hat scammers to quickly setup a website like 123Movies and turn the visits into cash.
This is the main reason why there are hundreds of websites that have “123Movies” in their website domain name.
There are many SEOs and wannabe online entrepreneurs that keep tracking popular search terms, looking for quick ranking opportunities. Given the huge search volume, 123Movies is the best bet to trick people by designing and uploading a website exactly like 123 Movies.
Most of these free media streaming websites are not hosted in the US and that’s why it takes some time to crack down on these illegal websites.
Are 123 Movies Websites Bad for Your Computer?
I stumbled upon an interesting question on Quora, Is watching 123Movies bad for your computer?
The answer to this question is both Yes and No. While watching 123Movies or other alternative site doesn’t directly affect your computer system, but that depends on the reputation of the website.
There are a lot of scam 123Movies websites available and when you try to access these websites, you might end up downloading a virus or potentially harmful file on your system. Most of the 123Movies alternative sites have adware installed. When you visit these websites, your computer screen will be flooded with thousands of ads.
This is why it is generally advised not to access the websites that offer free movie streaming services.
Anna West from Quora briefly answers this question to the point:
“First off, this website has been closed down due to the Piracy issue. Now the ones which you see online are the clone versions of this site. And many of them are poor in quality.
They have broken links and contents. Not to mention the Por* pages which often pop up when you visit their different pages.
And yes, they are also bad and risky for your computer. For they can spread malware and turn your pc into a bot.
So better be careful when you browse a clone version of this site. One website, however, which I found to be safe and similar is - 123movieshub [.] red
They have no broken links and their pages don’t redirect users to Por* sites. So you can try out this site.
They have a huge collection of movies which can be freely streamed. So I hope you will be enjoying your time with their super fast streaming.”
Best Legal, Safe Ways to Watch Movies & TV Shows Online (Nearly Free)
If you are on a budget but don’t want to miss your favorite movies and shows, then there are some best, safe and legal alternatives for 123 Movies. Websites like Amazon Video, Netflix, and Hulu offer 30-day free trial with unlimited access.
Most of the legitimate online movie streaming sites cost less than $10 per month, which is a very cost-effective option.
Eventually, many so-called 123 alternatives are going to go offline as online piracy laws are getting strict. You can still enjoy premium content by switching to legitimate, safe movie streaming websites.
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