Reddit Soccer Streams forum closes: Football streaming 'ceases all user related activity' over links to illegal sites
'We’ve officially reached critical mass,' says moderator of forum with 425,000 subscribers
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Your support makes all the difference.A popular Reddit forum where fans posted links to live streams of football matches has effectively been shut down after a warning over copyright infringement.
Moderators of r/soccerstreams, which had 425,000 subscribers, said they had been forced to “cease all user related activity” after the social news website threatened a ban.
Many of the streams posted to the forum were illegal.
A moderator post on Saturday morning said: “We’ve officially reached critical mass.
“I regret to inform you all that a few days ago, the Reddit Admins got in touch with us about an impeding ban of this subreddit if changes weren’t made. The only way to save it, from our perspective, was to cease all user related activity here.”
Last year Reddit began issuing warnings to the moderators of subreddits where users shared links to illegal streams and downloads of films and TV programmes.
The Premier League has also stepped up efforts to combat illegal streaming of matches in recent years.
Soccerstreams moderators have set up two new subreddits on which users can share links. They have also established a server on Discord, chat software that is popular among gamers.
“The aforementioned two are, for the moment, temporary solutions,” the moderators said. ”We are working on a more permanent solution, however, due to the short notice we’ve had to work with what we have.”
The popularity of the subreddit spiked over the summer during the 2018 Fifa World Cup, with Google searches for ”Reddit soccer streams” topping those for Donald Trump at times.
The Independent has contacted Reddit for a statement about the forum’s closure. The website’s user agreement states that its policy is to remove pirated material and that “repeat infringers” will be banned.
Cyber security experts have previously warned that illegal football streams could pose a danger to those watching them.
In the past two seasons, the Premier League has secured High Court injuctions to combat illegal streaming as it looks to protect its £8.4bn broadcast rights.
The court order requires the UK’s major internet service providers (ISPs) – including Sky, BT, Virgin Media, TalkTalk, plusnet and EE – to block and disrupt servers that host illegal streams of matches.
This week the league appointed lawyers to take action against Saudi Arabian pirate channel “beoutQ”, which has been broadcasting sports content illegally.
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