Italy busts €300M streaming piracy network
Analysis based on 6 articles · First reported May 22, 2026 · Last updated May 24, 2026
The dismantling of this sophisticated piracy network is expected to have a positive impact on the financial performance of affected rights holders such as Netflix, The Walt Disney Company — Disney+, Spotify, Sky, and DAZN. By reducing illegal access to their content, these companies can better protect their revenue streams and intellectual property, potentially leading to improved subscriber numbers and investor confidence.
Italy's Italy — Guardia di Finanza, in cooperation with International — Eurojust and authorities in France and Germany, has dismantled a sophisticated streaming piracy network. The network, centered around an application called Cinemagoal, caused an estimated €300 million in damages to rights holders including Sky, DAZN, Netflix, The Walt Disney Company — Disney+, and Spotify. The system bypassed security checks by using virtual machines to retransmit access codes from legitimate subscriptions every three minutes, making detection difficult. Prosecutors in Bologna secured the seizure of foreign servers and the application's source code. The operation also uncovered the use of traditional illegal streaming devices, and fines ranging from €154 to €5,000 will be issued to 1,000 identified users.
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