Facebook Is Top Hosting Site for World Cup Piracy: Viaccess-Orca

In the first of three research reports examining streaming video piracy during the World Cup, Paris-based content protection and delivery specialist Viaccess-Orca says Facebook is the top domain openly advertising illegal streams. The report looked at activity from June 14 to 17, and found 1,752 links on Facebook.

The social network was also the top domain for hosting the illegal videos themselves, with 1,762 videos either offered directly or through a proxy. In both cases, Facebook beat out the next most popular domains by a wide margin.

Looking at individual matches that took place over those days, the report found between 600 and 1000 illegal streams per game, with the June 17 match between Brazil and Switzerland getting 1,017 streams.

Periscope is also a popular way to stream games illegally. For the matches in this time period Viaccess-Orca found between 20 and 72 Periscope links each.

"Social networks are not sufficiently protected," notes Hervé Lemaire, CEO of Viaccess-Orca partner LeakID, interviewed in the report. "Facebook and Periscope have not really addressed sport events protection programs. Most of the IPTV playlists are open for all and this is also true for the majority of the Kodi plugin."

For an important championship event, Facebook links make up roughly 30 to 40 percent of all illegal links, Lemaire adds, while YouTube links make up another 20 percent.

For more on World Cup piracy, download the full report for free (registration required).