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French court backs LFP and orders top VPNs to block illegal football streams

Date:
Fri, 16 Jan 2026 14:20:06 +0000

Description:
A court in France has served its third blocking order against NordVPN,
Surfshark, Proton VPN, ExpressVPN, and CyberGhost since May 2025, as the 
fight against online piracy heats up. Here's what at stake.

FULL STORY

A court in Paris has ordered five well-known VPN providers to block access to
illegal sports streaming sites. 

The order, dated December 18, compels NordVPN , Surfshark , Proton VPN ,
ExpressVPN , and CyberGhost to restrict access to 13 piracy sites, ruling in
favor of the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP). 

The ruling, as first reported by TorrentFreak this week, echoes a similar
order issued against the same VPN companies last May, which required these
services to block access to 203 domains linked to illegal sports streaming. 
At the time, the VPN industry warned the move set "a dangerous precedent,"
warning of a chilling effect on online privacy and security. 

Those concerns appear well-founded. Since the landmark May ruling, more
VPN-blocking orders followed in June and July at the request of French
broadcasters beIN Sports and Canal+.

What does the blocking order say? 

Under the most recent ruling , the five VPN providers are required to
introduce "any effective means" to prevent access to the 13 domains from
within France within three days of the decision. 

The measures apply for the duration of the 2025/2026 football season, which 
is set to end on May 24, 2026. The list of sites affected can be extended
throughout the season at the LFP's request, via the regulatory authority ARCOM.

Judge reject VPN defence

VPN providers raised several legal and technical arguments against the
blocking order, which the judge rejected. 

NordVPN and Surfshark argued that their no-logs infrastructure prevents them
from identifying users based in France. The companies warned that collecting
real user geolocation data would violate their contractual obligations. 

The court responded that blocking access to illegal domains does not imply
that the service needs to permanently store user information. 

The VPN providers also challenged the definition of "technical 
intermediaries" under Article L. 333-10 of the Sports Code. The judge 
rejected this argument, identifying VPNs as key intermediaries in online
piracy and deeming them legally liable. 

According to the VPN companies, the blocking measures are also ineffective 
and easy to circumvent, as users could turn to another VPN or DNS service .

What's next? 

We have contacted the affected VPN providers to understand how they plan to
comply with the order and to clarify the implications for their users in
France. 

A NordVPN spokesperson confirmed to TechRadar that the company has already
initiated an appeal, arguing that blocking does not eliminate the content
itself or reduce the incentives for piracy. 

"Effective piracy control should focus on eliminating the source of the
content, targeting hosting providers, cutting off financing for illegal
operations, and increasing the availability of legitimate content," said
NordVPN. 

The provider also warned that these orders unfairly target established, paid
VPN services while leaving free alternatives largely untouched.  " Free VPNs
are often harder to regulate and, since users who seek to avoid paying for
content are unlikely to pay for a VPN either, these services remain a 
loophole for pirates to bypass restrictions," NordVPN added. 

Surfshark previously told TechRadar it intended to appeal the earlier May
ruling. We anticipate the provider will likely file a similar challenge
against this latest order. 

======================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-privacy-security/french-court-backs-lfp-and-
orders-top-vpns-to-block-illegal-football-streams

$$
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