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Short answer: The EU Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List does not name VPN users, ban VPNs, or decide whether an individual’s stream or download is legal. It is a nonbinding European Commission staff document that reports selected services and marketplaces alleged to be involved in, facilitate, or benefit from piracy or counterfeiting. A VPN does not make unauthorized content lawful, either; the legal position depends on the content, how it is supplied, the user’s conduct, and applicable national law.

What the EU Watch List is

The European Commission’s latest published edition is the fourth edition, issued on 22 May 2025. It draws on stakeholder contributions and gives examples of online service providers and physical marketplaces whose operators or owners are allegedly outside the EU and reportedly engage in, facilitate, or benefit from counterfeiting or piracy. The 2025 document also separately covers some online marketplaces and social media platforms expected to take further measures to combat infringement.

The Commission describes the Watch List as a Commission Staff Working Document. It summarizes allegations and, where available, responses from the named service or marketplace; the Commission says it takes no position on those allegations or responses. The document is not exhaustive, makes no findings of legal violations, and does not assess compliance with EU rules. It is a policy and consumer-awareness signal about reported providers—not a court ruling or a determination that every use of a named service is unlawful.

What it means—and does not mean—for VPN users

Keep three questions separate: whether using a VPN is lawful, whether a provider has been reported in the Watch List, and whether a particular act of accessing or sharing content infringes copyright. The Watch List addresses only the second question, and only by reporting selected allegations about providers and marketplaces. It neither determines the legality of VPN use nor decides whether a particular user’s stream or download infringes copyright.

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Being named does not, by itself, establish that a service or user violated EU law. Nor does the list identify individuals who used a VPN to reach a service. A service’s appearance on the list is not evidence that a particular user has committed an offence or is personally liable.

Does a VPN make a questionable stream legal?

No. A VPN routes a connection through another location and can serve privacy or access purposes, but it is not a licence to view content and does not establish that a provider has distribution rights. Check whether the service is authorized to offer the specific content in the territory where it is being accessed, and prefer lawful offers.

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In a comparative 2023 report, Eurojust discusses using a VPN to access content available in a different regional catalogue and says that the user in that example would not incur criminal liability. That limited example is not a blanket assurance about pirate streams, civil liability, or breaches of a service’s terms. Eurojust also notes that national approaches to criminal copyright enforcement differ, so the same infringing act can have different consequences across Member States.

A 2026 Court of Justice of the European Union judgment, Case C-788/24, concerns whether a website’s publication of protected work amounts to communication to the public in a Member State where access is geo-blocked but possible through a VPN. It addresses the publisher’s copyright communication and geo-blocking measures in a specific dispute; it does not make VPN use itself an infringement or turn the Watch List into a user blacklist.

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Finding authorized content

EUIPO’s Agorateka tool helps viewers find legal online content offers, including sports. Use it as a discovery resource, then check that the offer covers the content and territory you need.

What the latest edition and next update mean

As of 4 October 2026, the Commission’s consultation page for the 2027 Watch List is marked closed. It gives 21 September 2026 as the contribution deadline and says the next edition is planned for the second quarter of 2027. That is a planned publication window, not a guarantee; the 2025 edition remains the latest published list.

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Figures in context

The Commission’s 2025 Watch List reports 10.2 accesses to pirated content per internet user per month in 2023. It also reports a 10% rise in IPTV piracy that year and estimates that 1% of EU internet users subscribed to illegal IPTV services. These are overall piracy measures and an estimate—not counts of VPN sessions or VPN users.

Separately, an EUIPO 2024 press release summarized a study estimating 10 accesses to illegal content per EU internet user per month in 2023, with TV accounting for half of that average, or five accesses. This is a separately published study summary, not a VPN-use statistic.

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Scope

This is general information, not individual legal advice. The Watch List does not resolve every question about a person’s access to particular unauthorized content; those questions can depend on the facts and applicable national law.

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.