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Fastly partners with LALIGA to develop anti-piracy technology

April 9, 2026 8:01 AM

Fastly (NASDAQ: FSLY) and LALIGA announced a collaboration to develop technical solutions targeting illegal streaming of live sports content, according to a company statement.

The partnership focuses on creating detection systems to combat unauthorized streaming of LALIGA matches. LALIGA estimates piracy costs its clubs between $700-$800 million annually.

Fastly has developed a detection system that uses artificial intelligence and proprietary content signals to identify illegal streams in real time. The companies began working together last year to address unauthorized streaming sites that operate during match days.

A 2025 Grant Thornton study found that at least 10.8 million unauthorized retransmissions of live events were detected in 2024, with over 81% never suspended and only 2.7% addressed within the first 30 minutes of the event.

"At LALIGA, we have succeeded in reducing piracy of our streams in Spain by 60% during the 2024/25 season through a comprehensive, end-to-end strategy," said Javier Tebas, President at LALIGA.

The solution aims to enable platform customers to remove illegal content with enhanced precision while reducing the timeframe for piracy operations. Fastly's approach focuses on targeting specific unauthorized content rather than regional blocking methods.

"Unlike alternative approaches based on regional blocking, our strategy focuses on precision, letting fans enjoy the game while protecting content from abuse," said Kelly Shortridge, Chief Product Officer at Fastly.

The companies are working with other technology firms, publishers, and regulators to develop software solutions and practices for detecting and disabling unauthorized streaming while maintaining other traffic flows.

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