đ° New article from TorrentFreak
Piracy Crackdown in Italy Shuts Down IPTV Services Ahead of Winter Olympics
Italy just dropped a massive pirated IPTV hammer â and itâs not even Christmas yet.
In a slick, globe-spanning takedown called âOperation Switch Off,â Italian cops raided 11 cities and 14 countries, shutting down major illegal IPTV services like IPTVItalia and DarkTV. Over 125,000 users in Italy alone got the unplugged treatment â and millions more worldwide. The operation, backed by Europol and Interpol, allegedly crushed a âŹ8â10M/month criminal empire. Think SIM farms in Naples, servers hidden in Eastern Europe, and Telegram bots running like a rogue Netflix.
And the timing? Chefâs kiss. Just days before the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, Italy didnât just crack down â they strategically smacked down piracy before the worldâs eyes are on their screens. Sport Minister Andrea Abodi didnât even try to hide it: âThis is about protecting the Olympics,â he said. Translation? Donât even think about streaming the bobsleds for free.
This wasnât a random raid. Investigators spent over a year tracing crypto payments and digging through seized devices â the digital equivalent of following breadcrumbs to a pirate treasure chest. Even Kosovo got in on the action.
Bottom line? Italyâs not just talking about piracy â theyâre turning off the lights. And if you were streaming the Olympics via a shady Telegram link? Yeah⌠youâre out of luck.