The interface of the streaming service's app.

Fourteen people working for YYeTS.com, the popular Chinese streaming service that offers subtitled foreign television shows and films, have been taken into custody for alleged copyright infringement, Shanghai police officials announced on Wednesday.

The website has more than 20,000 TV shows and films and over 8 million registered users.

Police began investigating the company last September after discovering some of its programming lacked authorization from copyright holders.

The suspects were soon tracked down in Shandong and Hubeiprovinces, as well as Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and arrested.

They allegedly created several companies in 2018 to run the website, and paid translators about 400 yuan (US$62) for each episode or film translated.