- France issues another blocking order to five top VPNs
- The VPNs must block access to 13 illegal football stream sites
- That's the third such ruling against VPNs since May 2025
A court in Paris has mandated five prominent VPN providers to restrict access to illegal sports streaming sites.
The order, issued on December 18, requires NordVPN, Surfshark, Proton VPN, ExpressVPN, and CyberGhost to block access to 13 piracy sites, siding with the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP).
This ruling, first reported by TorrentFreak, follows a similar order from May that required these VPNs to block access to 203 domains associated with illegal sports streaming. At that time, the VPN industry expressed concerns about the potential negative impact on online privacy and security.
Since the significant ruling in May, additional VPN-blocking orders have been issued in June and July at the request of French broadcasters beIN Sports and Canal+.
What does the blocking order say?
According to the latest ruling, the five VPN providers must implement "any effective means" to prevent access to the 13 domains from within France within three days of the decision.
The measures will remain in effect for the duration of the 2025/2026 football season, concluding on May 24, 2026.
The list of affected sites may be expanded throughout the season at the LFP's request, through the regulatory authority ARCOM.
Judge Rejects VPN Defense
VPN providers presented various legal and technical arguments against the blocking order, all of which were dismissed by the judge.
NordVPN and Surfshark contended that their no-logs infrastructure prevents them from identifying users located in France. They cautioned that collecting real user geolocation data would breach their contractual obligations.
The court clarified that blocking access to illegal domains does not necessitate the permanent storage of user information.
The VPN providers also disputed the classification of "technical intermediaries" under Article L. 333-10 of the Sports Code. The judge rejected this claim, identifying VPNs as crucial intermediaries in online piracy and holding them legally accountable.
According to the VPN companies, the blocking measures are ineffective and easily bypassed, as users could switch to another VPN or DNS service.
What's Next?
We have reached out to the affected VPN providers to learn how they plan to comply with the order and clarify its implications for their users in France.
A spokesperson for NordVPN confirmed that the company has already initiated an appeal, arguing that blocking does not eliminate the content itself or diminish 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," stated NordVPN.
The provider also noted that these orders disproportionately affect established, paid VPN services while leaving free alternatives largely unregulated. "Free VPNs are often harder to regulate, and since users looking to avoid paying for content are unlikely to pay for a VPN, these services remain a loophole for pirates to bypass restrictions," NordVPN added.
Surfshark previously informed our publication of its intention to appeal the earlier May ruling. We expect the provider to file a similar challenge against this latest order.