The number of cybercrime cases rose by 37 per cent year-on-year in March. Investigators recorded a record 2,533 cases in March, Ondřej Moravčík, a spokesperson for the Czech Police Headquarters, told ČTK today. For internet users, the greatest risk comes from fraudulent bankers or police officers. Since the start of the year, they have caused losses amounting to 322 million crowns. Women are the most frequent victims. The average age of victims is 46. Perpetrators most often carry out attacks via mobile phones, the police stated on the X network.
“We have a sad record here. This March is the worst month in history in terms of cybercrime,” the police headquarters reported. “At this rate, we will reach last year’s figures by mid-October,” police officers added on the X network.
Since the start of the year, criminal investigators have recorded 6,322 cases of cybercrime. In the first three months of 2025, fraudsters committed 4,766 criminal offences online. Last year, there were 21,137 cases of cybercrime online.
According to a spokesperson, the majority of cases involve various types of fraud, with around 3,500 committed since the start of the year. Of these, fake bankers and police officers committed 728 frauds. The highest loss in a single case amounted to 24 million crowns. The average loss per victim is 721,546 CZK.
According to criminal investigators, the most risky tool is the mobile phone. “Please do not disclose your card details to anyone, do not send any money to police officers or bankers over the phone, and hang up immediately on any suspicious calls,” they warned today on the X network.
According to the police, cybercrime is criminal activity committed in the field of information and communication technologies, including computer networks. It includes, among other things, hacking, which is unauthorised access to a computer system; various types of fraud targeting individuals, companies and their employees; fraudulent online shops; copyright infringement; sexual offences, including procuring and human trafficking; and blackmail and stalking.
New rules on the transparency of so-called artificial intelligence will come into force in the European Union on 2 August this year. It will be necessary to label content generated by large language models (LLMs), provide information about deepfakes, and alert users that they are communicating with AI. The aim is to reduce the risk of misuse of this technology, manipulation, misleading content, fraud and so on.
The new measures form part of the Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act). Its individual provisions are coming into force gradually; thanks in part to the Czech Republic’s efforts, some sectionshave beenmitigated or postponed.
Jana Vorlíček Soukupová from the law firm Dentons summarised the situation as follows:
The new rules primarily concern generative artificial intelligence, i.e. systems that create text, images, audio or video content. They are intended to ensure that it is clearly distinguishable when content has been created by a human and when by an algorithm. AI is capable of creating content that is almost indistinguishable from reality. The regulation therefore introduces a simple principle – people have the right to know when content has been created by artificial intelligence or when they are communicating with AI rather than a human.
Under the new rules, providers of AI systems (such as OpenAI) must ensure that all outputs – text, images, audio or video – containa machine-readable label indicating that they were created or modified by artificial intelligence. Typically, this will involve metadata, digital watermarks, cryptographic tags or other technical identifiers embedded directly into the file. Technical labelling is key. It will enable social media platforms, search engines, content verification tools, the media and other digital platforms to automatically recognise that content has been created by artificial intelligence.
In addition to technical labelling, a requirement for visible labelling of outputs for end-users will also be introduced from August 2026. Certain entities deploying AI systems will be required to label these outputs properly, clearly and recognisably. This applies in particular to so-called deepfakes – imitations of real people or events created by artificial intelligence – as well as to content intended to inform the public. The rules on how to label content are currently being finalised, but it is expected that this will involve visual icons, text labels, verbal warnings, or messages in captions.
Another change will affect interactive systems such as chatbots and virtual assistants. If a person is communicating with an AI system, they must be clearly informed of this from the very first interaction. Transparency is a fundamental prerequisite for trust in the digital environment. A user should never find themselves in a situation where they believe they are communicating with a human, but are in fact being responded to by an algorithm.
The obligation of transparency is imposed on developers, suppliers and operators of AI systems by Article 50 of the European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act), adopted in 2024. Rules for the detection and identification of AI-generated content, including deepfakes and communication with chatbots, will come into force at the beginning of August 2026. The European Commission is therefore preparing a Code of Practice on the transparency of AI-generated content, which is intended to help fulfil these obligations in practice and is due to be finalised in June 2026.
The second draft of the code, published in mid-March, defines, among other things, technical standards for labelling AI content, such as metadata or digital watermarks. The Code consists of two parts. The first contains rules for providers of AI systems regarding the detection and labelling of AI-generated content. The second part then sets out guidelines for labelling deepfakes, addressed to entities implementing AI systems.
One of the fundamental principles of the code is multi-layered labelling of AI-generated content for AI system providers, i.e. the use of multiple techniques in combination. In addition, providers should make tools available to users for detecting AI-generated or manipulated content. For the labelling of deepfake content, the code proposes the introduction of an “AI” icon.
Fastly and LaLiga have teamed up to develop new technology aimed at tackling illegal streaming of live sports.
The collaboration focuses on real-time detection and removal of pirated streams, with LaLiga estimating piracy costs its clubs between $700 million (€645 million) and $800 million (€735 million) annually.
The two companies began working together in 2025, responding to the scale of illegal streaming activity, with numerous unauthorised streams appearing during matchdays. As part of the partnership, Fastly has developed an AI-driven detection system that uses proprietary content signals to identify illegal streams as they occur.
The move comes as the industry continues to grapple with the scale of live sports piracy. A 2025 study by Grant Thornton found at least 10.8 million unauthorised retransmissions of live events in 2024, with more than 81% never taken down and only 2.7% addressed within the first 30 minutes.
Fastly said its approach enables platforms to remove illegal content with greater precision, reducing the time pirated streams remain available while avoiding broader measures such as regional blocking.
Javier Tebas, president of LaLiga, said the league had already reduced piracy of its streams in Spain by 60% during the 2024/25 season through a combination of legal, educational and technological measures, supported by partners including Fastly.
Kelly Shortridge, chief product officer at Fastly, said the company’s strategy is designed to protect content without disrupting legitimate viewing, adding that the partnership reflects a broader effort to develop scalable anti-piracy solutions with industry stakeholders.
Fastly and LaLiga said they are also working with other technology providers, publishers and regulators to develop best practices and software tools that can detect and disable illegal streams while preserving legitimate traffic.
The Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) says 2 million people in France are watching Ligue 1 through illegal streams, as new figures highlight the growing scale of sports piracy in the market.
Details released at a conference organised by the Association for the Protection of Sports Programmes (APPS) showed Ligue 1 is now the most pirated football competition in France.
According to an Ipsos study commissioned by the LFP and LFP Media, 35% of the country’s 9.9 million committed football fans regularly pirate matches, equivalent to 3.5 million people. The study defines football fans as those with a strong interest in the sport, who regularly or almost always follow matches and support a Ligue 1 or Ligue 2 club.
Among those pirate viewers, 59% illegally watch Ligue 1, representing 2 million people. That means 20% of football fans in France are pirating Ligue 1 coverage, despite the competition also being available legally through Ligue 1+ and beIN Sports.
Douglas Lowenstein, legal director of LFP Media, said the practice was costing Ligue 1+ hundreds of millions of euros, adding that around one-fifth of football fans in France refuse to pay to watch football.
Last week, the Arras public prosecutor’s office sanctioned pirate service providers as well as around 20 users, with those individuals receiving fines of between €300 and €400.
The latest data will add to concerns over the commercial impact of piracy on Ligue 1’s broadcast revenues as rights holders and league officials push for tougher anti-piracy measures.
As the European Commission prepares for the upcoming review of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the undersigned organisations wish to reiterate their request to designate relevant connected TV operating systems and virtual assistant platform operators as gatekeepers to better reflect their increasingly significant role as well as evolving market realities.
To date, these categories of services have received limited regulatory attention. However, in its summary of responses to the 2025 DMA consultation, the Commission acknowledged that espondents called for “the designation of more services such as operating systems for connected TVs, virtual assistants and further messaging services”.
Connected TV (CTVs) Operating Systems (OS)
The EU connected TV operating system market is becoming more concentrated around large ecosystem platforms.
From 2019 to 2024:
Android TV increased its market share from 16% to 23%
Amazon Fire OS rose from 5% to 12%, driven by a dual model combining proprietary devices and licensing to third-party TV manufacturers
Samsung’s Tizen OS maintained a 24% market share1
A limited number of operators are therefore gaining growing ability to shape outcomes for millions of users and businesses by controlling access to audiences and content distribution.
With the future viability of many European TV broadcasters at stake, and with millions of EU businesses and consumers relying on CTVs to promote and access an expanding range of content via TV applications, it is crucial that the Commission designate major TV operating systems as gatekeepers and ensure adequate oversight to guarantee fairness and contestability. While CTVs can offer significant opportunities for European businesses to develop and compete—not only in audiovisual content, but also in gaming, health and other applications—these opportunities risk being undermined by entrenched gatekeeping practices.
CTVs assume a central intermediary role between media providers and end-users and can therefore exercise significant influence over the discoverability, accessibility and use of media services. CTV OS providers may have incentives to retain end-users within their own ecosystem and to contractually or technically restrict linking or redirection, e.g. from one media application to another media application. Such restrictions may adversely affect the distribution models of media providers, hinder customary forms of cooperation within the sector — in particular recommendations by aggregating media platforms — and limit functional interoperability between media services.
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1 For more information see Keystone report on ‘Connected TV platforms: Android TV OS quantitative designation submission under the Digital Markets Act’ prepared for MFE-MEDIAFOREUROPE N.V. and published on 18 March 2025 EUROPEAN BROADCASTING ASSOCIATIONS’ STATEMENT ON CONNECTED TVs & VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS – MARCH 23 2026
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The definition of a Core Platform Service should not depend on the device through which a service is provided. Recital 14 of the DMA explicitly clarifies that CPSs may be offered on or through various devices, including CTVs and embedded digital services. A fragmented, device-based approach to operating systems risks inconsistent application of Articles 5 and 6, allowing gatekeepers to maintain harmful practices on certain devices and thereby undermining effective enforcement of the DMA.
Virtual assistants (VAs)
Another category of services that exercises gatekeeping power in the media sector are Virtual Assistants. Although listed as a category of core platform services in the DMA, none have been designated to this date.
The deployment of virtual assistants is a rapidly developing phenomenon, increasingly so with the integration of generative AI systems in the form of chatbots and AI agents. These developments mean that virtual assistants are constantly evolving, taking on new functions that might not have been fully anticipated when the DMA was drafted. The lack of designation of virtual assistants creates a regulatory void, allowing powerful AI assistants to become de facto gatekeepers for media content through mobile phones, smart speakers and in-car radio infotainment services, without being subject to DMA obligations. This is due to a restrictive definition of quantitative thresholds and an underestimation of virtual assistants’ scale.
The DMA considers that business users of virtual assistant services can only qualify as such if they have developed a virtual assistant software application (or functionality). This significantly limits the business users’ base in the meaning of the DMA. It also gives virtual assistant providers – who control the terms and methods of interoperability with their platforms – the power to unilaterally alter whether a business user is covered by the DMA, even if the underlying commercial relationship remains unchanged.
Our call
The DMA must remain forward-looking and sufficiently responsive to emerging risks. Experience in adjacent platform markets shows that once gatekeepers and harmful practices become entrenched, restoring competition and consumer choice proves extremely difficult. Where users become accustomed to a closed or biased presentation of services, reversing those effects is challenging. The Commission therefore has a unique opportunity to act in this sector before such entrenchment occurs.
We call on the European Commission to:
Designate major connected TV OS and virtual assistant providers as gatekeepers.
If allegedly none of them meet the quantitative thresholds, to open a market investigation on the basis of the qualitative thresholds (Article 3(8)).
Review the definition of “business users” for the purpose of designating VAs as gatekeepers, in the context of the ongoing review of the DMA. The definition must be interpreted broadly, applied in a technology-neutral manner, and encompass all entities that significantly rely on the VAplatform to reach end users.
We stand ready to support the Commission’s work with data, insights and technical expertise, and would welcome the opportunity to meet to discuss next steps.
Yours sincerely,
Signatories (in alphabetical order)
1. Association of Commercial Television and Video on Demand Services in Europe (ACT)
2. Association of European Radios (AER)
3. Asociace komerčních televizí (AKTV)
4. Slovak Television Broadcasters’ Association (ATVS)
5. Asociația Română de Comunicații Audiovizuale (ARCA)
6. Confindustria Radio Televisioni (CRTV)
7. European Broadcasting Union (EBU)
8. European association of television and radio sales houses (egta)
9. Televisión Comercial en Abierto (UTECA)
10. Verband Privater Medien (VAUNET)
11. Verband Österreichischer Privatsender (VOP)
Ahead of next month’s Super Bowl LX, which NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service hopes will be its largest-ever live viewership (along with the Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy), there is growing concern about the rise in streaming sites offering illegal access to live sports.
A 2025 study found that 69% of sports fans in the United States and Europe have turned to illegal streams as the subscription cost of their platforms rise. In the United Kingdom, approximately 4.7 million adults (9%) confessed to using illegal streams for sports.
Worse still, 58% of sports fans in the United Kingdom now consider illegal streaming to be “socially acceptable,” according to new data from Nielsen — viewing it as a response to an overpriced and complicated legal market to access their favorite teams.
Illegal sites in the United Kingdom, which showcase soccer, boxing, tennis, cricket, as well as movies and TV shows, reportedly attracted 1.6 billion views in the first half of 2025. Analysts contend the trend could see sports leagues worldwide lose upwards of $28 billion annually in revenue due to piracy.
In addition to revenue loss, illegal live streams pose a risk to the end user. A study by OpenText Security Solutions found that nearly every illegal streaming service exposed users to malicious or misleading content, including malware, spyware, phishing, junk security software, explicit content, fake operating systems and related online scams.
The NFL, NBA and UFC have urged the U.S. government to update the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). They argue that live sports are uniquely vulnerable because their value depreciates instantly after the event ends, requiring faster, “real-time” takedown powers.
In 2023, Peacock and EverPass, a media platform distributing live sports and entertainment content to commercial businesses, created Peacock Sports Pass to discourage individual third party subscribers from using personal subscriptions at commercial businesses.
“Accessing ‘NFL Sunday Ticket’ and Peacock sports content in commercial establishments such as bars, restaurants, and other businesses through unauthorized channels and residential subscription services (a Peacock subscription) or other unauthorized third-party platforms is unlawful,”
EverPass wrote in a post.
The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), whose members includes Amazon, Disney, Netflix, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, last month hailed the shutdown of the pirate site Streameast, calling it a “resounding victory” for the entire live sports ecosystem.
“Piracy isn’t a harmless shortcut as it exposes consumers to real risks and drains resources from India’s creative economy,” Larissa Knapp, EVP and chief content protection officer at the Motion Picture Association, said in a statement. “Our actions make clear that ACE will relentlessly pursue and dismantle illegal operations so audiences and creators can benefit from a secure, sustainable marketplace.”
X, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok all say that they remove illegal content streams from their platforms as soon as they are made aware of it.
The pirate service Bitplay, which, among other things, illegally provided access to premium sports television channels, live broadcasts of sports matches and selected series content, has been shut down. The service was shut down following a criminal complaint by the Association of Commercial Television (AKTV) and a subsequent investigation by the Czech Police.
The Association of Commercial Television Stations identified the pirate service Bitplay in mid-2025. Given that the operator did not cease its activities despite warnings from the legitimate copyright holders, the association’s members decided to take legal action against the operator. Together with its supplier, Warezio, which monitors the occurrence of illegally shared television content for television broadcasters, AKTV prepared evidence on the basis of which the law enforcement authorities identified the operator as a natural person.
The Bitplay service, operating on the domains bitplay.my, starstreams.pro, starsites.fun and starlive.click, offered access to premium paid sports channels and broadcasts without the relevant licences from the rights holders. The service was promoted through social networks and other online channels and targeted Czech, Slovak and Polish users.
“Illegal streaming harms broadcast rights holders, sports competition partners, and athletes and sports clubs themselves. Investment in quality content is only possible in an environment where copyright is respected and protected,” said Marek Singer, president of AKTV. “The action against Bitplay is another step in our systematic approach to combating the illegal distribution of our content. We will continue to actively take action against entities that unlawfully offer and monetise protected content.”
In addition to the damage caused by piracy to copyright holders, the use of illegal services also poses a security risk to users. The biggest problem may be the misuse of personal or payment data, but also the unintentional downloading of various malicious software (viruses, malware, spyware, and more).
In addition to actively protecting copyrights, the Association of Commercial Television Stations has long focused on educational activities. As part of these activities, it operates an information website on copyrights, which is available at NormalneLegalne.cz. Here, interested parties will find a directory of legal sources, a glossary explaining terms related to intellectual property protection, answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ), and regular news focused on internet piracy.
LALIGA and Telefónica Audiovisual Digital (TAD) say they have judicial backing requiring NordVPN and ProtonVPN to prevent access from Spain to IP addresses where illegal transmissions of LaLiga matches have been verified.
In a statement, the companies describe the precautionary measures from Commercial Court No. 1 of Córdoba as dynamic, with no right of appeal, allowing updated IP address lists to be supplied as new infringements are detected.
The court decisions also recognise VPN providers as “technological intermediaries” falling within the scope of the EU Digital Services Regulation, and therefore subject to requirements to help prevent infringements using their infrastructure. The orders describe VPNs as “highly effective and accessible” tools that can distort a user’s apparent location and facilitate access to websites carrying protected content illegally, noting the defendants “acknowledge and even advertise” their ability to evade restrictions.
LALIGA and TAD said the measures are intended to stop VPN services from contributing to the evasion of access restrictions already ordered by Spanish courts, referencing the December 2024 Barcelona Commercial Court No. 6 ruling that underpins LaLiga’s wider dynamic IP-blocking approach against piracy.
The court also orders also require LALIGA and TAD to preserve sufficient digital evidence of the unlawful transmissions they notify to the VPN providers, supporting the evidential approach used under previous rulings.
The Tokyo District Court ruled that Cloudflare, one of the world’s leading Content Delivery Network (CDN) service providers, is liable for the manner in which it provides its services, which facilitates copyright infringement. The dispute concerned the illegal distribution of popular manga titles with a global reach, including the ONE PIECE and Attack on Titan series. The lawsuit was filed by four leading Japanese publishers – Kadokawa, Kodansha, Shueisha and Shogakukan.
The case dealt with the operation of two large pirate websites that illegally made more than 4,000 manga titles available. The sites recorded over 300 million visits per month and used Cloudflare’s CDN services, which enable fast and efficient content distribution while making it difficult to identify the original servers.
The court found that the company’s liability did not lie in the CDN technology itself, but in the manner in which it provided its services. In particular, it criticised the absence of thorough customer verification procedures (Know Your Customer – KYC) and the inadequate response to repeated notifications of copyright infringement.
According to the court, providing easy access to services without thorough client identification gave pirate website operators a high degree of anonymity. This significantly complicated the normal legal steps taken by copyright holders to protect their works.
Based on these conclusions, the court ruled out the possibility of using the so-called safe harbour under Japan’s Information Distribution Platform Safety Act. It concluded that the company was aware of the illegal nature of the activities that its services enabled and had the technical ability to terminate them. Cloudflare was therefore ordered to pay approximately 500 million yen.
The decision fits into the broader international debate on the liability of digital intermediaries. Similar issues are also addressed by European law – for example, the Digital Services Act and the Copyright Directive strengthen the obligations of platforms in the area of due diligence and cooperation and limit exemptions from liability in cases where the intermediary does not act passively or respond to obvious infringements of the law.
The company is also facing regulatory measures in Italy. The regulatory authority AGCOM recently imposed a fine of over EUR 14 million on the company for violating anti-piracy legislation (Law No. 93/2023). According to the authority, the company failed to comply with an order to block access to illegal content reported by the rights holder through the Piracy Shield system and did not take sufficient technological and organisational measures to prevent the further dissemination of such content.
This development confirms that even technology intermediaries can be held directly liable if they fail to respond to clear and timely requests to remove illegal content.
Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) at City of London Police has arrested 4 people and seized 10 servers in Manchester as part of an investigation into a large-scale illegal IPTV streaming service.
Officers executed warrants last week, confiscating servers and associated equipment valued at around £75,000 each, with total seizures exceeding £750,000 (€866,000).
The investigation began after Sky reported suspicious activity linked to an illicit streaming service. Investigators identified individuals believed to be operating an illegal IPTV operation supplying consumers across the UK, with one suspect alleged to have generated more than £3 million in revenue.
During the raids, officers shut down the servers on site. Sky said the action caused widespread disruption to the service’s illegal streaming output across the UK.
Detective Constable Jordan Day said the services are “organised criminal operations generating millions in illegal profits”, adding that working closely with partners such as Sky helps dismantle piracy networks and “send a clear message” to those behind them.
Matt Hibbert, Sky’s Group Director of Anti-Piracy, said the broadcaster would continue working with police and industry partners to disrupt criminal networks, and warned consumers that illegal streams can expose devices and personal data to risks. He pointed to research from BeStreamWise suggesting nearly 65% of illegal streamers have faced security scares such as malware.
The US Department of Justice has issued seizure warrants against three US-registered internet domains tied to commercial websites allegedly operated from Bulgaria and accused of distributing copyrighted content without authorisation.
In a statement, the department said the services offered pirated copies of movies, television programmes and other content, including video games, software and e-books.
According to affidavits supporting the warrants, the three domains attracted “tens of millions” of visits a year, hosted “thousands” of infringed works and drove “millions” of downloads, with retail value totalling millions of dollars. The department said the sites were among the most popular in Bulgaria, with one frequently ranking in the country’s top 10 domains, and appeared to generate significant advertising revenue.
Visitors attempting to reach the services will now see a seizure notice stating the domains are in US government custody and warning that wilful copyright infringement is a crime. The domains named in the action are zamunda.net, arenabg.com and zelka.org.
The operation involved cooperation with Bulgarian agencies and Europol, one of a number of coordinated international law-enforcement operations to take place in recent weeks. The DOJ said it worked with Bulgarian partners including the National Investigative Service, the General Directorate for Combating Organised Crime, the State Agency for National Security and the Prosecutor’s Office, alongside US partners including the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi, Homeland Security Investigations and the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center.
The department said the investigation is being led by HSI, with prosecutors from the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and the Southern District of Mississippi, and support from its International Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property programme based in Bucharest.
A coordinated international law-enforcement operation led by the Catania District Prosecutor’s Office and Italy’s Postal and Cybercrime Police has targeted an industrial-scale illegal IPTV network, with investigators naming 31 suspects following raids in 11 Italian cities and 14 countries.
ACE said the action took offline infrastructure serving millions of users, while Italian authorities and supporting reports said more than 1,000 resellers in Italy were shut down and more than 125,000 end users were blocked in the country, with “millions” more impacted worldwide.
The operation resulted in the seizure of three well-known illegal IPTV platforms – IPTVItalia, migliorIPTV and DarkTV – alongside associated websites and Telegram sales channels. Investigators said the services offered pirated live and on-demand programming from major rights holders and platforms including Sky, DAZN, Mediaset, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Paramount and Disney+.
Authorities said the investigation grew out of leads and forensic work linked to a previous operation, Taken Down, and included network monitoring and financial tracing, including cryptocurrency flows. Reports also pointed to proEuropaTV being identified in Romania, distributing via six servers in Romania and an African country, and the discovery of a SIM farm in Naples with more than 200 phone cards.
ACE and industry partners framed the takedown as timely ahead of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, with DAZN saying the case showed the impact of “coordinated global action” against piracy that undermines investment and exposes consumers to fraud and cyber risks.
