Spanish soccer league battles Cloudflare over piracy, says US company ignores illegal content

MADRID — Once the ball starts rolling in the Spanish league, the game is on for some 50 analysts who start looking for signs of online piracy.

They scan websites, social media posts, IPTV platforms and streaming portals in search of illegal broadcasts of La Liga matches.

The trained analysts identify the pirated content and take the steps needed to take them off air, including notifying Internet intermediaries like Cloudflare, the U.S.-based company whose content-delivery network is believed to manage nearly 20% of the Internet traffic worldwide.

And that's when the real fight begins for the Spanish league.

La Liga, one of the most active European leagues fighting piracy and audiovisual fraud, accuses Cloudflare of ignoring illegal content and not doing enough to block it. It says Cloudflare plays a decisive role in the dissemination of online piracy that significantly hurts the soccer industry.

Protecting its content is key for the league, which recently sold domestic audiovisual rights for more than 6 billion euros ($7 billion) through the 2031-32 season.

Spanish league president Javier Tebas told The Associated Press in an email that Cloudflare is an organization ''fully aware that a significant share of sports audiovisual piracy relies on its infrastructure and, despite this knowledge, it continues to protect and monetize that activity, as recognized by courts in multiple jurisdictions.''

"This is not a legal, technical or ideological debate, but a case of a company prioritizing its commercial interests and financial gain over the law, the sustainability of the global sports industry, and the protection of its own customers, whom it uses as a digital shield for organized piracy networks,'' Tebas said.

Cloudflare speaks of censorship

Cloudflare, which describes itself as a ''long-standing champion of a free and open Internet,'' denies wrongdoing and accuses the league of bullying its way into controlling what Spanish users see online during matches.

Cloudflare told the AP that the league's ''indiscriminate blocking practices'' have kept Spanish users from accessing tens of thousands of legitimate sites while the games are on.

The company said La Liga thinks that its commercial interests can ''trump the right of ordinary Spanish users to browse lawful sites'' during matches.

''Cloudflare regularly works collaboratively with rightsholders to help address issues like illegal streaming,'' it said. ''La Liga, however, has shown no interest in this type of collaboration, believing instead they can bully their way to having complete control over what Spanish users see online during football matches by making unsupported claims and threats.''

La Liga notes there is collaboration among several other intermediaries, including Google, Amazon and YouTube, but says Cloudflare has rejected similar collaboration efforts with the league.

Legal actions

The Spanish league has been successful in achieving court rulings against piracy in Spain, which also impacts Cloudflare, but it remains unable to get the company to block some of the illegal content internationally.

Cloudflare has fought back in the courts, filing appeals to ''demonstrate that La Liga's overblocking practices are illegal.''

Cloudflare faces similar legal issues in Italy, France, Germany and Japan, among other countries. In Germany, the local league said it was in ''regular and intensive communication with Cloudflare in order to combat the issue of digital piracy in the best possible way.''

Cloudflare fined

The Italian league on Thursday praised a 14 million euro fine handed to Cloudflare by Italy's communications watchdog. The Italian news agency ANSA said the fine was issued because Cloudflare failed to take measures to combat the use of its services for the dissemination of illegal content — an allegation Cloudflare denied.

Serie A CEO Luigi De Siervo said the sanction represented ''a historic step in the fight against audiovisual piracy in Italy." He said piracy has prompted losses of 300 million euros ($349 million) and caused ''much greater damage caused to the entire sports and entertainment supply chain.''

''A clear message has been sent: Those who do not follow the rules, who facilitate the illegal distribution of content, will be heavily sanctioned in Italy,'' he said. ''We will keep working with determination to protect the investments of broadcasters, the rights of clubs, and, above all, the work of the thousands of people in our sector.''

Cloudflare recently told the United States Trade Representative that the actions by foreign countries constitute digital trade barriers that contradict global norms and disproportionately impact U.S. technology providers, hindering market access in some countries.

The Spanish league has also reached out to the European Commission and the USTR to complain about Cloudflare's practices. It told the USTR that Cloudflare was the main facilitator for unauthorized broadcasts of La Liga and other pirated content worldwide.

Cloudflare claims that its network is vital to the U.S.' economic and security interests.

''We urge the U.S. government to continue its resolute advocacy on behalf of American businesses to dismantle these structural barriers and ensure a global digital environment that rewards innovation and fair trade,'' it said.

The USTR did not answer an AP email requesting comment.