Spain’s fight against La Liga streaming pirates hurts thousands of innocent sites
LaLiga, Spain’s premier football league, has intensified its campaign against illegal streaming, particularly targeting unauthorized broadcasts of its matches. In collaboration with Telefónica, LaLiga secured a court order in March 2025 permitting Spanish internet service providers to block IP addresses associated with pirated streams, many of which utilize Cloudflare’s infrastructure. This action aims to curb the significant revenue losses—estimated between €600 million and €700 million annually—attributed to online piracy.
However, the broad blocking measures have led to unintended consequences. Numerous legitimate websites, including those using the .cat domain associated with Catalan culture, have reported access issues during LaLiga match broadcasts. The PuntCAT Foundation, responsible for managing the .cat domain, has acknowledged these disruptions and is monitoring the situation closely.
LaLiga defends its approach, asserting that the targeted IP addresses are involved in distributing illegal content and that any collateral damage is a result of Cloudflare’s practices. The league emphasizes that the blocks are not indiscriminate but are necessary to protect its intellectual property rights.
Despite legal challenges from Cloudflare and cybersecurity group RootedCON, a Spanish court upheld LaLiga’s right to implement these blocking measures, stating that no evidence was presented to show that the blocks caused harm.
