Football and business

TV rights and piracy, Serie A ready to sue Google

The League has warned the search engine that it is in fact not complying with its obligation to promptly remove pirate sites under Law 93/23

23 October 2024

3' min read

In the battle against digital piracy, the clash between the Lega di Serie A and Google is getting tougher. Serie A is now ready to sue the US giant, guilty of serious negligence and failure to comply with its obligations under Law 93 of 2023. If the situation is not remedied, therefore, it will end up in court, and in fact the one sent on 7 October to Google Ireland - and for information to Agcom - is such a timely warning that it already represents a writ of summons and a claim for compensation.

The League, in essence, summarised all the defaults lined up by Google in the first five days of the current championship, replicating, moreover, similar negligences accrued during last season.

Uncooperative Google

Today, thanks to the new computer system Piracy Shield, managed by Agcom, the Lega di Serie A (but the same power is held by the rights holders, Dazn and Sky) is able to block domains and addresses used to illegally broadcast matches (over 20 thousand have been intercepted so far). Afterwards, however, it is up to - or rather, it should be up to - Google, to whom these are reported, to 'make them disappear', so that the illegal conduct cannot be repeated. The problem encountered by the League, however, is precisely the poor, not to say absent, cooperation of the Mountain View giant.

Google rightly pointed out last weekend that it had suffered damage from the national anti-piracy platform, which by blocking a partially illicit vpn ended up paralysing Google Drive's operation as well. Problem promptly solved in about four hours (when the law in such erroneous cases gives 24 hours).

Automatic responses in the viewfinder

A diligence that, on the contrary, Google does not have when, for example, it is urged by the League to 'de-index' domain names related to so-called 'showcase' sites that promote illegal streaming links. The same applies to the persistent offer to the public on the "Google Play" marketplace of illicit Apps through which it is possible to access free live streaming of licensed Serie A matches. In the warning letter, the League sets out all the cases in which, in recent weeks, despite having made 'double reports', through e-mails, registered letters and the completion of the forms provided by Google itself (which is not provided for by the regulations), it was faced with an absolute lack of cooperation.

A behaviour that for the League amounts to a form of 'gross negligence', manifested by 'automatic responses' and repeated requests by Google's computer system to provide the same information several times.

The League, on the other hand, has also asked Google to stop the dissemination of illicit content uploaded by users on the YouTube platform, only to receive the same automatic replies. Often, moreover, Google does not communicate the closure of the accounts responsible for the violations, and when it declares that it has taken action, the League again notes, the removal actions take place with a clear delay compared to the urgency of safeguarding the economic value of events such as football matches that take place live.

The uninstallation node from devices

Google will now have the opportunity to provide its answers to these findings and should do so shortly, probably as early as 23 October, in a hearing at Agcom.

In the meantime, the commissioner of the Communications Authority, Massimiliano Capitanio, intervened sharply on the subject: 'If we have to solve the problem, are we going to deny that if I type 'streaming' into Google, at least 20 applications appear with which I can commit an offence? Applications that violate Google's own policies. Once removed, they should also be uninstalled from users' devices. Why are they not uninstalled? I don't want to think at all that they are not uninstalled and appear in the window because millionaire business is done on those apps with advertising'.