LaLiga, the premier professional football league of Spain, has recently accused software company Cloudflare of knowingly protecting criminal organizations for profit. This allegation comes in the wake of a legal dispute between the two entities after LaLiga blocked certain IP addresses.
LaLiga has taken a strong stance against piracy and recently blocked broadcasts from DazcFutbolios and RBTV77 platforms. These platforms had over 400,000 unique monthly users in Spain alone. In its allegations against Cloudflare, which provides an array of cloud services for websites, LaLiga claims that the software company is actively enabling illegal activities such as human trafficking, prostitution, pornography, counterfeiting frauds and scams among others.
The league further alleges that two IP addresses it blocked provided access to child pornography. This information has been reported to Spanish law enforcement authorities.
Impact on legitimate sites
The blocking action by LaLiga resulted in some legitimate sites experiencing issues. In response to this fallout, LaLiga stated that it is absolutely certain these IPs are being used to distribute illegal content alongside legitimate material. It further claimed that legal businesses affected by these blocks are those unknowingly used by Cloudflare as a digital shield to obscure illegal activity while profiting from it.
LaLiga also claims that over 50% of piracy-related IP addresses distributing its content are protected by Cloudflare. Despite repeated efforts made by the league to reach out for cooperation on this issue with the competition (CloudFlare), they have reportedly refused any form of collaboration or assistance.
Cloudflare released statement:
“LaLiga secured this blocking order without notifying cloud providers, while concealing from the court the predictable harm to third parties and the public good. LaLiga’s actions pose a clear threat to the open Internet. Cloudflare has now filed a legal action to challenge the order and establish that LaLiga’s disproportionate blocking efforts are unlawful.
“Instead of addressing Spanish users’ concerns about excessive content blocking, LaLiga has attempted to deflect with baseless claims against Cloudflare while doubling down on its unlawful blocking practices. Cloudflare hopes this legal action helps prevent future indiscriminate blocking measures, and makes it clear that rightsholders cannot prioritise their commercial interests over the fundamental right of millions of consumers to access the open Internet.”
Hard-Line approach against piracy
In recent times, La Liga has adopted a hard line approach towards combating piracy; one notable action includes blocking a distribution network with over 22 million users globally.
This ongoing dispute between LaLiga and Cloudflare highlights the challenges faced by sports leagues in protecting their content from piracy. It also underscores the need for tech companies to cooperate with these organizations to ensure that illegal activities are not being facilitated under their watch.
