The story of free video streaming is inseparable from the broader narrative of peer‑to‑peer (P2P) sharing and user‑generated content. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, file‑sharing platforms such as Napster, Kazaa, and BitTorrent popularised the idea that digital media could be exchanged directly between users, bypassing traditional distribution channels. While these early services focused on music and software, they set the cultural precedent that “content should be free”.