Spain’s top football league is no stranger to aggressive anti-piracy tactics. With the new season underway, LaLiga has resumed efforts to block illegal streams that they claim are hurting their industry.
This battle intensified last year when LaLiga received court approval to block entire Cloudflare IP ranges linked to piracy. The fallout was immediate. Businesses, bloggers, and everyday internet users found their websites blocked despite having nothing to do with streaming matches.
A Blogger Caught in the Crossfire
One of the latest victims is a Spanish blogger known for his focus on technology and transparency. His personal blog uses Cloudflare for protection. Earlier this week, he received a warning forwarded by Cloudflare that left him stunned.
According to the notice, because the IP address tied to his blog was allegedly linked to LaLiga piracy by unknown third parties, he could be seen as failing to meet his “obligations” against criminal activity. The letter implied that ignoring this notice could amount to cooperation with piracy groups, exposing him to civil or criminal liability.
You can see the translated document below:
This situation highlights the shaky ground LaLiga is standing on. IP addresses alone are an inadequate method for establishing responsibility. In Cloudflare’s model, the blogger does not own the address, nor does he control how others use it.
Treating him as an accomplice simply because of a shared identifier is a stretch. In practice, it creates pressure on users to hold Cloudflare accountable for piracy they have no connection to, even though they have no power to stop it.
Cloudflare and LaLiga’s Standoff
The ongoing standoff between LaLiga and Cloudflare has reached a point where end users may feel forced to choose sides. The blogger behind Lazarus’s Blog expressed frustration, noting that LaLiga knows exactly how Cloudflare functions but appears willing to lean on innocent customers to push its agenda.
Hide Your Digital Fingerprint
Via his Mastodon (translated), he wrote:
Well, the league clearly knows how #cloudflare works, but the only way they have, for now, is through #cloudflare users themselves, to pressure them to audit and prosecute those who pirate their football or for us to morally stop using their services.
If there’s football on 5 days a week and they block your website, we won’t say anything about it, and neither will we say anything about the judges who allow it. It’s the last attempt by #laliga to get #cloudflare to jump through their hoop, but if they do, prepare for what comes next.
The Bigger Picture
For years, entertainment industries have struggled to contain IPTV and copyrighted streams. Blocking websites, shutting down servers, and targeting operators are common steps. But LaLiga’s broad actions reveal how blunt tools can harm lawful internet activity.
Collateral damage not only undermines trust in online services like Cloudflare but also raises questions about due process. If a blogger or small business owner can be threatened simply because of an IP address, the precedent could extend far beyond football.
What Comes Next
It’s unclear how Cloudflare will respond to these tactics. The company has defended its users before, but legal pressure in Spain appears to be growing. For ordinary site operators, the risk is being swept into disputes they have no part in.
As IPTV piracy evolves, the balance between enforcement and internet freedom will remain tense. Until affordable, user-friendly alternatives rival piracy’s appeal, heavy-handed measures like these will likely continue—leaving more innocent users caught in the middle.
We want to know what you think of LaLiga’s attempt to shut down various sites and services. Let us know in the comments below!
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