HBO speaks out after ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2 finale leaks on TikTok

nypost.com:

“House of the Dragon” leaked online Tuesday night, five days before it airs on HBO and Max on Sunday, August 4. The episode spread like dragon fire on TikTok, forcing HBO to release a statement.“We are aware that clips from the ‘House of the Dragon’ season finale have surfaced across social media platforms,” a spokesperson for the network told Entertainment Weekly.“The clips were posted after an unintentional release from an international third-party distributor,” the statement continued. “HBO is aggressively monitoring and removing clips from the internet, and fans can watch the episode in its entirety this Sunday night on HBO and Max.”The Post has reached out to HBO.According to Variety, one TikTok account posted 14 videos and roughly 30 minutes of footage from the upcoming episode.

The clips had at least 100,000 views before the TikTok account was banned three hours after the leak. However, the videos ended up spreading on X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit as well, per Variety.A similar situation occurred with the “House of the Dragon” Season 1 finale that leaked days before it hit television screens in October 2022.In a statement to The Post, HBO said at the time that the finale was posted to illegal torrent sites, and “it appears to have originated from a distribution partner in the EMEA region,” referencing Europe, the Middle East and Africa.“HBO is aggressively monitoring and pulling these copies from the internet,” the network continued.The “Game of Thrones” prequel series premiered its 10-episode debut season in August 2022.