On a mandate from the Catania Prosecutor’s Office, more than 270 Italian postal police operators carried out 89 searches in 15 Italian regions.
This Italian enforcement operation was part of the broader multi-national operation conducted against the illegal streaming at the end of November, 2024, which has been characterized as the largest ever in Europe.
A complex IT infrastructure that illegally served over 22 million users, both nationally across Itally and internationally, was dismantled by the “Taken Down” operation, which has been characterized as the largest ever carried out in Italy and Europe.
“A round of applause goes to our Law Enforcement for the incessant commitment made in contrasting a phenomenon that not only damages the cultural industry and Italian creativity but seriously endangers the security and privacy of users who use pirated platforms,” said Federico Bagnoli Rossi, President of FAPAV
Media industry stakeholders that participated in the operations included the Premier League, Sky Group, Nagravision, Deutsche Fußball Liga (DFL), beIN Sports, United Media, Friend MTS and Irdeto.
Further reading
FAPAV applauds the important ‘Taken Down’ operation. Press release. December 11, 2024. FAPAV Labs (Federation for the Protection of Industries of Audiovisual and Multimedia Content, Italy)
Europol, AAPA and police take down €250M/month piracy operation, said to be the largest ever. Article. November 27, 2024. By Steven Hawley. Piracy Monitor
Why it matters
In 2023 there were about 319 million crimes, 4 out of 10 Italian adults have in fact committed at least one act of piracy. This has a significant impact on the audiovisual and sports content industries with an estimate of the potential economic damage of more than 1 billion euros,” said FAPAV President Bagnoli Rossi.
“Alarming numbers also with regard to the Country System: from the Ipsos data processed on behalf of FAPAV, a loss of turnover for the Italian economy is estimated at about 2 billion euros due to piracy, which implies a loss of GDP that is around 821 million euros and a contraction of jobs equal to about 11,200 units.
“This is why cooperation between the actions of the Police, the Judiciary and the Authority for Guarantees in Communications is crucial. In addition, we are waiting for the new AGCOM consultation aimed at extending the timeliness of the action to block illegals to other non-sports audiovisual content, including, for example, first film screenings and live television ones,” he said.