Overview
- The Justice Department announced on Friday that it seized nearly 400 web domains that were streaming 2026 FIFA World Cup matches without authorization.
- The takedown, called Operation Offsides, was led by the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center and Homeland Security Investigations with a seizure warrant filed in the Eastern District of Virginia.
- Investigators traced core streaming infrastructure to servers in Peru and Bulgaria and executed supporting disruptions in Croatia, Romania, Poland, and Colombia through international cooperation.
- FIFA and major rights holders including beIN Media Group, NBCUniversal, ACE, UFC, and Warner Bros. supplied intelligence that helped identify the domains and those sites now display law-enforcement seizure banners.
- Authorities warned viewers that illegal streams often carry malware and insecure redirects that can steal personal and financial data, and said domain seizures are temporary while the active investigation shifts toward identifying and prosecuting the operators.