UAE blocked 14,122 websites and applications during Football World Cup 2026, says official

The Ministry of Economy and Tourism (MOET) announced that the "InstaBlock" centre for immediate blocking, protection of sports broadcasting rights, and combating digital piracy blocked 14,122 infringing websites and applications for illegally broadcasting sports content during the Football World Cup 2026.

This included 9,595 Domains and 4,527 IP Address, as part of the monitoring and immediate response system adopted by the centre to handle reports of broadcasting rights infringement, in cooperation with relevant authorities and local economic departments.

This allegedly contributes to limiting the spread of unlicensed content and protecting the rights of intellectual property owners, including sports and media broadcasting and the entities owning them.

The MOET, in cooperation with local economic departments, carried out a series of field inspection visits covering more than 370 commercial establishments during the 2026 World Cup, particularly cafes and restaurants, which resulted in identifying 287 non-compliant establishments.

The total number of infringing sports broadcasting websites and applications blocked since the centre's establishment in February 2025 until now has amounted to 68,401 sites. The number of blocked sites in 2023 was 1,132, 4,557 in 2024, and 21,000 in 2025, according to the centre.

The center has contributed to enhancing the speed of response to digital violations and limiting the spread of content circulated or broadcast without obtaining the necessary licenses, supported by the latest technologies and artificial intelligence applications, according to Dr Abdurrahman Hassan Al Muaini, Assistant Undersecretary for the Intellectual Property Sector at MOET.

Al Muaini explained that protecting sports broadcasting rights, especially during major global events such as the World Cup, is an important part of the UAE's efforts to support the creative and sports content economy.

He also noted that the inspection campaigns, implemented by MOET, in cooperation with local economic authorities, contributed to enhancing the confidence of rights holders and broadcasting entities in the UAE digital environment, consolidating the UAE's position among the leading nations in combating digital piracy.

The centre relies on an integrated system which begins with receiving reports and complaints from rights holders regarding infringing sites or applications, which are then referred to the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TEDRA) to take blocking measures, Al Muaini explained. The process of monitoring the infringing site and completing blocking procedures takes about 10 to 15 minutes, he added.

The centre's operational mechanism includes monitoring and blocking sites and applications which broadcast sports content illegally, in cooperation with the strategic partner, TEDRA and in partnership with the Spanish League (LaLiga) and Eurostar Multimedia.