UEFA and Meta committed to combatting online piracy

UEFA’s competitions are among the most popular sporting events in the world. Unless you are lucky enough to experience them at the stadium, live broadcasts by UEFA’s appointed media partners around the globe remain the best way to enjoy the games at home or in cafés and bars.

Through the media rights to its competitions, UEFA provides vital revenue for the well-being of the sport at all levels of the professional and amateur game as well as for grassroots projects across Europe and beyond. As such, the unlawful and unauthorised streaming of UEFA content is something which European football’s governing body takes extremely seriously.

Combatting piracy on social media platforms can present unique challenges unless effectively managed given their substantial reach and easy-to-use functionality. UEFA is pleased that Meta continues to address these risks and has recently worked productively with UEFA to improve products and enforcement on both Facebook and Instagram, including through upgrades to Meta’s content protection tool ‘Rights Manager’. UEFA and Meta have further collaborated on various measures to combat piracy including in relation to deeper investigation and disruption activities, as well as expansions to Meta’s proactive enforcement programmes.

Technologically, Meta has introduced upgrades to assist in the discovery of the sources of piracy as well as improvements to Rights Manager. Meta is also pleased to announce additional protections preventing newly-created accounts from live streaming – a key measure in stopping pirates creating fresh accounts to avoid enforcement measures. These were launched and implemented in advance of UEFA EURO 2024 and will continue to apply going forwards including in relation to the next cycle of UEFA club competitions.

These achievements represent a continuation of UEFA and Meta’s ongoing content protection work and demonstrate that long-term co-operation and the sharing of expertise can result in truly effective strategies to help address the complex problem of online live sports piracy. UEFA and Meta sincerely believe this sets an example for the industry on what can be achieved through engagement, active discussion and collaboration between relevant stakeholders.

UEFA’s Marketing Director, Guy-Laurent Epstein, said: “The fight against the online piracy of our competitions remains the highest priority for UEFA. We are committed to doing whatever is possible to stop this core threat to the revenues which underpin the European football ecosystem. UEFA is pleased that Meta has worked so effectively with us in this ongoing battle – we look forward to continuing this collaboration.”

Meta’s Director & Associate General Counsel, IP, Mark Fiore, said: “We are proud to work with UEFA ahead of UEFA EURO 2024 and stand with them in the fight against online piracy. This approach is a key component of our strategy to combat piracy across Facebook and Instagram, and we are excited to continue this collaboration with UEFA and others across the industry. We invest significant resources in combatting piracy including by building and improving advanced tools like Rights Manager, improving our products to prevent piracy behaviour, and refining our proactive enforcement and notice-and-takedown program.”