LALIGA participates alongside Europol and international authorities in a new offensive against audiovisual piracy

LALIGA has participated as a strategic partner from the audiovisual and anti-piracy sector in the second phase of Operation KRATOS, known as KRATOS 2, an international action targeting criminal networks engaged in the unauthorised distribution of protected content through illegal IPTV services and streaming platforms.

The operation, implemented with Europol’s support, took place between September 2025 and April 2026 and brought together law enforcement authorities from several European countries, as well as from the United Kingdom and the United States. Its objective was to dismantle the criminal infrastructure enabling the illicit exploitation of premium content, including sports broadcasts, films and television channels.

LALIGA’s participation forms part of its ongoing commitment to protecting audiovisual rights, defending the sports industry and fighting digital piracy, an activity that not only generates significant financial profits for criminal organisations, but also exposes users to cybersecurity risks such as malware, spyware, data theft and other forms of online exploitation.

This operation has made it possible to take further action against the criminal ecosystem that sustains these illegal services, going beyond the mere removal of websites. Investigations focused on identifying those responsible for the management, commercialisation and technical operation of these platforms, as well as on dismantling the infrastructure that enables them to operate across different jurisdictions.

As a result of the operation, the authorities reported 29 arrests out of 86 identified suspects, more than 148 house searches, nine organised criminal groups dismantled, 59 cases referred to judicial authorities, 72 ongoing criminal investigations, 169 domains reported, 27,332 URLs removed and 722,961 infringing objects identified.

The operation also involved cooperation from private-sector partners in the audiovisual and anti-piracy industries, including beIN Media Group, UEFA, AAPA and Irdeto, among others. Thanks to this cooperation, 4,370 new domains linked to piracy activities, 18,331 IP addresses associated with illegal services, 397,384 URLs reported for suspension or removal and 126,979 additional infringing objects were identified.

LALIGA will continue to work with authorities, international organisations and industry partners to combat audiovisual piracy networks, protect the value of competitions and strengthen user safety against illegal services that, under the guise of cheap access to premium content, form part of complex criminal structures.

 

 

Organised crime adapts to the digital environment

What may appear to consumers as cheap access to high-quality content is driven by complex criminal organisations. The groups behind illegal streaming services increasingly rely on sophisticated technical infrastructure, separating customer-facing websites from the servers hosting the illegal content and distributing these services across several countries to avoid detection.

Rather than focusing solely on shutting down websites, investigators targeted the broader criminal ecosystem supporting these services. This approach enabled authorities to gather intelligence on the organised crime groups operating behind the platforms and to identify the main suspects involved in their management and technical operation.