Spain’s most visible blocking comes from football: since February 2025, court-backed IP blocks against pirate LaLiga streams have also knocked out thousands of legitimate Cloudflare-hosted sites on match days.
Every day we open 67 of the world’s biggest sites and apps from home internet connections in Spain, and record what’s blocked, since when and how.
1 of 67 testedsites and apps with a confirmed block in Spain
67 of 67 results confirmed in the last 48 hours.
Tests are requested on Movistar and Orange home connections.
On 18 December 2024 Barcelona’s Commercial Court No. 6 let LaLiga and Telefónica have the main providers block the IP addresses of pirate football streams until Telefónica’s LaLiga rights deal ends after the 2026/27 season. Because many of those addresses belong to shared services such as Cloudflare, match days since February 2025 have also knocked out thousands of unrelated websites. In March 2025 the court rejected bids by Cloudflare and the security group RootedCON to have the proceedings annulled, a decision LaLiga said could not be appealed.
Movistar, Orange, Vodafone and Digi, with their sub-brands, must apply the blocks, and they do it differently: Movistar silently drops traffic to blocked addresses and Orange cuts access without a notice, while Vodafone and Digi show a warning page. On 23 March 2026 Barcelona’s Commercial Court No. 9 let Telefónica’s Movistar Plus+ extend dynamic blocking to other sports it holds rights to, starting with a Champions League match on 14 April 2026, with tennis and golf to follow.
Courts have also reached for broader blocks. In March 2024 a High Court judge ordered Telegram suspended nationwide after Mediaset, Atresmedia, Movistar and Egeda complained that it spread their content without permission, then halted the order three days later pending a police report on its impact on users. Before the Catalan independence referendum of 1 October 2017, the Civil Guard seized referendum.cat under a court warrant, and more than 140 related domains were seized or blocked.
Spain also applies the EU sanctions that have barred RT and Sputnik since March 2022, including RT’s Spanish-language service, though Freedom House noted that RT kept setting up mirror sites in Spain and Germany. In February 2026 Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced plans to bar under-16s from social media and to make platforms verify users’ ages.
Are VPNs legal in Spain?
VPNs are legal in Spain, and INCIBE, the national cybersecurity institute, recommends one on public Wi-Fi in places such as cafés, airports and libraries.
Key dates
Barcelona’s Commercial Court No. 9 lets Movistar Plus+ extend dynamic blocking to other sports it holds rights to, including the Champions League.
The Barcelona court rejects Cloudflare’s and RootedCON’s bids to have the LaLiga case annulled.
LaLiga’s match-day IP blocks begin, knocking out thousands of legitimate sites that share Cloudflare addresses.
Barcelona’s Commercial Court No. 6 lets LaLiga and Telefónica have providers block pirate streams’ IP addresses until the end of the 2026/27 season.
A High Court judge orders Telegram suspended over pirated content, then halts the order three days later.
The Civil Guard seizes referendum.cat ahead of Catalonia’s independence referendum; more than 140 related domains are later seized or blocked.
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History
Changes in Spain
No confirmed changes since monitoring began on 29 Sep 2026. When a block appears or lifts, and a re-check on several machines agrees, it shows up here.
Method
How we test
Test machines on Movistar and Orange home connections open each site’s homepage every day.
A failure counts only when it happens twice on the same network, while the site opens from other countries.
A change is published only after re-checks a few hours later and again the next day, on several machines per provider, confirm it. It’s dated from the first sighting.
Test machines caught getting around blocks, through a VPN or a filter-dodging tool, are set aside.
We test websites, mostly over home broadband. Apps, calls and mobile networks can behave differently.
Why Do Websites Stop Working in Spain During Football Matches?
Because of LaLiga’s anti-piracy blocks. A Barcelona court ruling of December 2024 lets LaLiga and Telefónica have Movistar, Orange, Vodafone, Digi and their sub-brands block IP addresses used by pirate streams on match days. Many of those addresses belong to shared Cloudflare servers, so thousands of unrelated sites go down with them.
Was Telegram Banned in Spain?
Only briefly. On 22 March 2024 a High Court judge ordered Telegram suspended after Mediaset, Atresmedia, Movistar and Egeda said it spread their content without permission. Some mobile providers began blocking it, but on 25 March the judge halted his order pending a police report on its impact on users.
How Long Will LaLiga’s Blocks Last?
The December 2024 ruling covers LaLiga match days until Telefónica’s rights deal with LaLiga ends after the 2026/27 season, expected in June 2027. A separate ruling of 23 March 2026 lets Movistar Plus+ block streams of other sports it holds rights to, such as the Champions League, with European football covered until the end of the same season.
