Kim Dotcom, born Kim Schmitz, is a German-born internet entrepreneur who founded the file storage site Megaupload and later became the face of a long-running U.S. copyright case brought against him from New Zealand.

Where did Kim Dotcom come from?

He was born in Kiel, West Germany in 1974, built early notoriety as the hacker Kimble, and founded Megaupload in Hong Kong in 2005 before relocating to New Zealand.

What does Kim Dotcom mean?

The name is a legal rebrand Schmitz adopted around 2005 in honor of the internet, and online it is used as shorthand for the Megaupload founder and his anti-copyright persona.

How do you use Kim Dotcom?

His name is invoked in discussions about piracy, DMCA takedowns, and U.S. overreach abroad, especially around the January 19, 2012 Megaupload shutdown and the Auckland mansion raid.

Is Kim Dotcom still popular?

He is a classic figure in internet copyright lore whose relevance spiked around key moments such as the 2012 arrest and the July 2018 Court of Appeal extradition ruling.

Kim Dotcom

2012notable personclassic

Published September 4, 2026

Kim Dotcom, born Kim Schmitz, is the German-born internet entrepreneur behind Megaupload, the file storage giant taken down by U.S. authorities in January 2012. His flamboyant persona, mansion raid in New Zealand, and long-running extradition fight turned him into one of the internet's most recognizable copyright folk figures.

Overview

Kim Dotcom, born Kim Schmitz, is a German-Finnish internet entrepreneur best known for founding Megaupload, once one of the largest file storage services on the web3. His public image mixes tech-mogul excess with anti-copyright activism, a combination that made him a recurring character in stories about piracy, surveillance, and internet freedom throughout the 2010s.

The January 2012 raid on his rented Auckland mansion, carried out at the request of the U.S. Department of Justice, turned Dotcom from an eccentric businessman into an internet cause célèbre1. Fans and file-sharers rallied around his defiant Twitter presence, while U.S. prosecutors accused him of running a criminal enterprise that cost Hollywood hundreds of millions in lost revenue1. His flashy lifestyle, cars with plates like "GUILTY" and "MAFIA," and habit of posting bounties and manifestos online kept him firmly inside meme territory long after Megaupload went dark.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Megaupload (site) / Twitter (persona amplification)

Creator

Kim Schmitz

Date

2012

Kim Schmitz was born on January 21, 1974, in Kiel, West Germany, and legally changed his surname to Dotcom around 2005 in honor of the internet3. He built a hacker reputation as a teenager under the handle Kimble, later drawing convictions related to computer intrusion and, after a stock-pumping scheme involving LetsBuyIt.com, insider trading3. He founded Megaupload on March 21, 2005, while living in Hong Kong, later expanding into Megavideo, Megapix, and a cluster of related brands3.

The defining moment came on January 19, 2012, when U.S. authorities coordinated with New Zealand police to shut down Megaupload and arrest Dotcom at his Auckland home on criminal copyright infringement charges1 3. The indictment, filed on January 5, 2012, alleged that Dotcom and his staff knowingly promoted the platform for piracy rather than merely tolerating it1.

How It Spread

Dotcom used social media to fight the case in public. On October 31, 2012, he announced a successor site at the domain Me.Ga, only for the launch to collapse days later after Gabon's government yanked the domain and a hacker crew briefly hijacked the redirect3. He kept pushing the story through his @KimDotcom Twitter account, including a widely shared November 2012 video announcement of the new Mega domain4.

On September 4, 2013, Dotcom announced via Twitter that he was resigning as Managing Director of Mega to focus on his legal case and a new New Zealand political party5. In January 2014 he launched the music service Baboom and dropped his own rap album Good Times, a promotional stunt covered by TorrentFreak and mainstream tech press3. In June 2014, he offered a \$5 million bounty to any whistleblower who could prove U.S. government misconduct in the case, framing the prosecution as a "contract" job for Hollywood donors3.

His extradition battle dragged through New Zealand's courts for years. On July 6, 2018, the New Zealand Court of Appeal ruled that Dotcom and three co-defendants, Bram Van Der Kolk, Mathias Ortmann, and Finn Batato, could be extradited to the United States1. His U.S. lawyer Ira Rothken said they would seek review at the Supreme Court and predicted Dotcom would ultimately prevail1.

How to Use This Meme

"Kim Dotcom" is used online as shorthand for a specific archetype: the flamboyant tech mogul turned copyright martyr. People invoke his name when arguing about piracy, DMCA takedowns, or overreach by U.S. law enforcement abroad. He is often referenced alongside events like the SOPA/PIPA backlash and the Megaupload shutdown1 and is a recurring figure in file-sharing memes, screenshots of his tweets, and jokes about ostentatious mansion raids.