US Justice Department seizes nearly 400 websites illegally streaming World Cup

The US government just made roughly 400 websites disappear. The Justice Department announced on June 26, 2026, the seizure of nearly 400 internet domains caught illegally streaming live FIFA World Cup matches, in one of the largest single enforcement actions against sports piracy ever conducted.

The operation targeted sites that were pulling in revenue by rebroadcasting matches in real time, without paying a cent to the rights holders who spent billions securing those broadcast licenses.

What actually happened

The DOJ identified the seized domains with direct assistance from FIFA, NBCUniversal, and Warner Bros., all of whom hold significant financial stakes in ensuring the 2026 World Cup reaches viewers only through legitimate channels.

Investigators traced the infrastructure behind these piracy operations to servers based in Peru and Bulgaria.

For context on scale, the previous major crackdown came in December 2022, during the Qatar World Cup. That operation, dubbed Operation Offsides, resulted in the seizure of 78 domains. The current action seized nearly 400, a fivefold increase in scope.

The 2026 World Cup is being hosted across North America, which gives US federal agencies stronger jurisdictional footing to pursue enforcement than they had during the Qatar tournament.

Why broadcast rights are worth fighting over

Piracy networks are also not the mom-and-pop operations they might appear to be. The Peru and Bulgaria server connections point to coordinated infrastructure, not a hobbyist with a streaming key. These are organized operations using dynamic domain rotation, meaning when one domain gets seized, traffic is automatically redirected to a backup. That technical sophistication is part of why law enforcement has to move at scale, seizing hundreds of domains simultaneously rather than taking them down one at a time.

Social media compounds the problem. Piracy operators have become adept at using platforms like Telegram, Reddit, and Twitter to distribute new streaming links in real time, often faster than enforcement actions can be executed.

What this means for the digital entertainment landscape

Despite the broader narrative that illicit online networks have migrated toward cryptocurrency payment rails and blockchain-based distribution, the piracy model described here appears to be running on straightforwardly traditional infrastructure: domains, servers, and ad revenue. Official reports and analyses surrounding the recent seizures contain no mention of cryptocurrencies, tokens, or blockchain technologies being associated with these illicit streams.

The fivefold increase in seized domains compared to 2022 suggests that either piracy has grown substantially, enforcement has become more aggressive, or both.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.