A Paris court has ordered major VPN providers to block access to sports piracy sites in France. The order targets CyberGhost, ExpressVPN, NordVPN, ProtonVPN, and Surfshark. It follows previous rulings that expanded blocking beyond ISPs to DNS resolvers like Cloudflare. The French football league (LFP) requested the action to stop users from bypassing existing ISP blocks.

The court rejected the VPNs' 'no-log' defense, arguing their contractual obligations to users don't override the rights of content owners. Judges also dismissed claims that the VPNs aren't 'technical intermediaries' under French law. The ruling states that simply providing a bridge to pirate sites makes them essential to data transmission, stripping away claims of legal immunity.

The order is dynamic, allowing the LFP to add new domains throughout the 2025/2026 football season. NordVPN has already filed an appeal, calling site-blocking a futile approach that doesn't address piracy's root causes. If upheld, the ruling could push some providers to exit the French market, though none have made that move yet.