- A French court has issued new orders against five popular VPN services to block more pirated sites that illegally broadcast live sporting events
- Reafiers Gigantes Canal+ and Bein raised requests on July 18, 2025, against Nordvpn, Proton VPN, Cyberghost, Surfshark and Expressvpn
- A historical failure in May ordered the same VPN to block access to more than 200 pirate domains
France has continued to harden its control over online piracy this summer with another round of judicial orders for some family names in VPN.
Five of the best VPN suppliers in the market at this time, once again, have been found under the center of attention of the Paris Judicial Court with demands to block sites that provide live live live broadcasts.
As reported by Torrentfreak, the global sports station Bein Sports France raised a successful Nordvpn application, Proton VPN and Cyberghost to block seven domains that organize WTA tennis currents.
While Nordvpn, Proton VPN, Cyberghost, Surfshark and ExpressvPN now have to close access to their clients to five web domains that show formula one after the complaints of the Country+Country Transmission Rights channel.
These orders follow an emblematic decision in May, which forced the same VPN companies to block access to more than 200 pirate domains. An action that, according to the VPN industry, established “a dangerous precedent.”
New French VPN blocking orders
The judicial decisions issued on July 18, 2025 enforce those sites until the end of their 2025 season. For F1, that is scheduled for December 7, 2025. For WTA tennis, the judge ruled until November 10, 2025.
Canal+ First shared plans to direct the use of VPN in an escalation of antipiratry tactics in February. This occurred after the transmission giant brought successful legal action against DNS services in 2024.
Fast advance until May 2025, and with two rounds of illegal transmission blocks already under their credit, it seems likely that official French serpentines have not yet finished.
With Bein Sports now following its example and that you reach the Court, we will surely see more payments paying on board to protect your investments in rights to broadcast live sporting events.
Are vpns backing?
Speaking with Techradar in May, the VPN industry raised many concerns about France’s blocking orders, including a possible technical difficulty in satisfying such requests.
It is known that all specific services, in fact, operate under strict VPN non-log policies. This means that they do not register any activity or other data linked to users.
A NordvPN spokesman told Techradar at that time that the team was still evaluating how to identify customers in the French territories while preserving the privacy obligations of the services.
However, the Paris Judicial Court has given a little complaints, which rejected “the reasons for inadmissibility” raised by all VPN suppliers, on July 18.
The court even dismissed the reference opportunity to the EU court issued by Expressvpn and Cyberghost, leaving VPN companies that have no escape route.
We have approached VPN suppliers to obtain more clarifications on the matter, but we are still waiting for an answer when writing.
