Something wrong with pirates deployments. Just a few pirates at all for a long time.
Example of area:
https://youtu.be/XIJKBxIJIJc

Dear Pelmenis,
sorry to ask you. They changed the filter. Now it is possible do
disable view of pirats.
Maybe yours is off?

Off course it is possible you live near me.
than there are also no pirats anymore :D

You're looking in arms 1-30 that is the most populated areas in the game from system 1-999 arm 1-30 are the most populous and as a result have the least pirates available.. try arms 50-100. Look for as a blank of an area as you can.. or browse during your normal online periods and see which sections of the map typically have the most pirates... then look at all those players in the area. is it a friendly alliance? can it be one? what size are the players? many big players? many small players? not to be a bully, but small players will have less fleet, less tech, less speed tech, less fleet slots..at least for the time being.. so will be less competition for you.. and hi again :)
 

You can use some filters to find pirates in your area. In menue galaxy choose filter 'pirates on coordinates' and press apply filters.