A Spanish court has granted precautionary measures against NordVPN and ProtonVPN, ordering the two VPN providers to block 16 websites accused of facilitating illegal football streaming.
The restrictions apply to a dynamic list of IP addresses within Spain and were issued without prior notice to the companies. The ruling was taken inaudita parte, meaning the defendants were not invited to participate in the hearing and have no opportunity to appeal at this stage.
The legal action was initiated by LaLiga and its broadcasting partner Telefónica. Both organizations are required to preserve sufficient digital evidence of unlawful transmissions of protected content. LaLiga argued that VPN services can effectively bypass geographic restrictions, enabling users to access pirated football streams by masking their real location.
According to LaLiga, the court recognized that VPN providers fall under the EU’s Digital Services Regulation and therefore have a responsibility to help prevent copyright infringement occurring through their infrastructure. The league described the ruling as unprecedented in Spain and comparable to similar decisions in France. In recent years, LaLiga has taken a firm stance against online piracy, previously targeting companies like Cloudflare over alleged facilitation of illegal sports streaming.
Both VPN providers pushed back against the decision. ProtonVPN stated publicly that it had not been formally notified of the proceedings and questioned the legality of issuing a judicial order without giving affected parties the chance to respond. NordVPN also said it had not received official documents and criticized the approach, arguing that blocking domains does not address the root cause of piracy. The company suggested that enforcement should focus on hosting providers, financial flows behind illegal operations, and improving access to legitimate content.
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