French Court Orders VPN Providers to Block 200 Illegal Sports Streaming Sites

17 May, France

French media giants Canal+ and beIN SPORTS have won a court ruling requiring VPN providers to block over 200 illegal sports streaming sites.

The Paris Court of Justice has issued a landmark judgment that mandated some prominent Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to block access to more than 200 sites that illegally streamed sports content.

A French media conglomerate consisting of Canal+ and beIN SPORTS France instigated the lawsuit, requesting the order in order to rid the country of pirating of competitions such as the UEFA Champions League and a number of football leagues within the country.

Historically, in France, anti-piracy measures tended to target ISPs (internet service providers) and DNS (domain name system) resolvers. But as users used more VPNs (virtual private networks) so as not to be blocked by ISP and DNS, rights holders sought additional legal burdens to be put on VPN services.

The Court, as per Article L.333-10 of the French Sports Code, has ruled that VPN services, including NordVPN, Proton VPN, CyberGhost, ExpressVPN, and Surfshark, are required to put in place dynamic blocking measures against the specified illegal streaming platforms.

The VPN Trust Initiative (VTI), speaking for a number of the targeted VPN providers, had strong objection to the ruling. In its statement, the VTI had maintained that the ruling threatens fundamental online privacy and would set a harmful precedent for internet censorship.

They contend that VPNs are used for online privacy and enhanced security for the users, not for enabling illegalities. The alliance cautioned that similar requirements could shift users to an unsecured service, bringing added risk to cybersecurity.

This ruling represents a serious escalation in France’s battle against digital piracy. The ruling goes so far as to expand legal culpability to VPN providers. This may affect the methods by which the world approaches online protections for content.

Skeptics of the ruling caution against going too far, calling for a responsible balance in the ongoing fight against piracy that preserves digital rights and freedoms.

As the pendulum swings in the legal landscape, everyone will be watching the implementation and impact of this ruling at every layer of the legal system from both a pirate perspective and a rights/permission perspective.

In the meantime, governments and stakeholders will be determining if this decision represents a viable method for combating digital piracy as well as its implications for internet governance.

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