La Liga Hopes Google Will Remove Pirated IPTV Android Apps Downloaded by Users
La Liga Hopes Google Will Remove Pirated IPTV Android Apps Downloaded by Users
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La Liga Hopes Google Will Remove Pirated IPTV Android Apps Downloaded by Users
Like many other major football (or soccer) leagues in Europe, La Liga has also been plagued by rampant piracy issues.
Now, the organization is proposing a stringent solution to this longstanding problem, urging Google to proactively and directly remove apps from users’ smartphones.
La Liga is seeking the removal of apps already downloaded on Android smartphones and is hoping that Google will take action.
This peculiar proposal comes from Javier Tebas, the president of Spain’s top men’s professional football organization. Tebas stated that just a few days into the new football season, La Liga has already helped “eliminate” 58 illegal streaming football match apps used by Android users.
Tebas recently participated in an event with Spain’s Secretary of State for Sports and President of the High Council for Sports (CSD), Víctor Francos Díaz, and European Parliament member Iban García del Blanco. During an event focused on combating sports piracy, Díaz noted that piracy rates in Europe increased by 3.3% in 2022. La Liga and other major European leagues are particularly affected by this issue, with users mostly watching pirated matches through unauthorized IPTV streaming services.
According to data provided by Tebas, the aforementioned 58 pirated apps have been downloaded by 4 million users worldwide. Spain accounts for approximately 1.1 million downloads, with the majority (800,000) being Android users. Tebas stated that, after eight years of anti-piracy efforts, La Liga now reliably detects over 46,000 IP addresses globally streaming pirated sports events live.
Tebas did not provide specific details on how La Liga “eliminated” the 58 pirated apps that were targeted in the first few days of the new season, but these apps were likely removed from the official Google Play Store. The head of La Liga has proposed stricter anti-piracy measures, which go beyond just adjustments to the Play Store.
The organization has stated that it is in discussions with Google and other platforms to implement these new measures. Tebas emphasized that Mountain View must “remove” apps already downloaded on Android smartphones. He argued that if this can be done for “crimes like child pornography,” then it should also be possible for “stealing” intellectual property.
Tebas’ statements are at least debatable, as they imply that child pornography and intellectual property piracy are legally equivalent (or should be). Furthermore, if La Liga requests Google to remove installed apps, these apps are likely still reliant on the robust IPTV streaming infrastructure that the organization has been unable to address so far.
