- Cloudflare says ‘indiscriminate blocking’ of La Liga is illegal
- La Liga accuses Cloudflare of “prioritizing commercial interests” over the law
- Spain’s Anti-Piracy Crackdown Also Reportedly Impacting Legitimate Domains
The growing tension between Cloudflare and La Liga has moved from the server room to the courtroom, with the US tech giant filing appeals against what it describes as “indiscriminate blocking practices” by the Spanish football league.
As reported by the Associated Press (AP), the dispute centers on La Liga’s aggressive campaign to stamp out illegal streaming. The league employs about 50 analysts who scour the web for hacked games and send notifications to intermediaries like Cloudflare to stop them.
However, Cloudflare has responded legally since last summer in hopes of addressing Spain’s blocking of illegal soccer streams ahead of the upcoming LaLiga season. The company filed an appeal with the Spanish Constitutional Court to “demonstrate that La Liga’s overblocking practices are illegal”.
US-based CDN and DNS resolution company says the current approach is far too broad, preventing Spanish users from accessing legitimate websites while games are in progress. There were incidents last year where Spaniards had to turn to the best VPN apps to avoid such restrictions.
Cloudflare claims that La Liga’s enforcement measures, designed to combat piracy, inadvertently disrupt access to non-infringing content hosted on the same servers or networks. He warns that La Liga operates with the belief that its commercial interests “outweigh the right of ordinary Spanish users to browse lawful sites”.
“Intimidation” versus “Digital Shield”
The war of words between the two organizations has become remarkably personal.
According to the AP report, La Liga president Javier Tebas said Cloudflare is “fully aware that a significant portion of sports broadcast piracy relies on its infrastructure.”
Tebas went further, accusing the company of acting as a “digital shield for organized hacking networks” and of “prioritizing its commercial interests and financial gains over the law.”
Cloudflare’s response was equally strong. Dismissing the accusations, the company told the AP that La Liga was trying to “clear its way to having total control over what Spanish users see online.” The company accused the league of overstepping its authority by pressuring intermediaries to impose broad and sweeping blocks that go far beyond the intended scope of copyright protection.
Cloudflare insists it is a “long-time champion of a free and open internet” and says the football league is making “unsubstantiated claims and threats” rather than seeking genuine collaboration.
The company says it fully complies with legal takedown requests, but refuses to allow actions that could stifle legitimate expression or restrict free access to information in Spain’s digital infrastructure.
A story of collateral damage
This legal action follows months of disruption for internet users in Spain. We’ve previously covered how La Liga football streaming was the cause of Cloudflare’s weekend outages, where the “indiscriminate” nature of these blockages resulted in completely unrelated websites and services being shut down.
Frustration has led to a digital migration, with many Spaniards turning to Proton VPN to bypass restrictions and access the open web.
The situation in Spain reflects a broader European trend. In France, similar orders to block illegal streaming sites have raised alarms as they have also been extended to VPN providers, while the UK is also cracking down on piracy, often catching innocent users in the crossfire.
Cloudflare is now encouraging Spanish users who notice legal sites being blocked to contact their legislators, highlighting the need to combat “internet censorship.”
As the AP notes, Cloudflare is facing similar pressure in Italy, where it was recently fined 14 million euros ($15.2 million) by the communications watchdog, a sanction the company is also likely to contest.
For now, experts warn that using DNS resolvers as censorship tools remains a risky strategy that threatens the stability of the online world.
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