Madrid, February 10, 2025 – Spanish telecommunications providers Movistar and O2 are currently causing significant issues for their customers. In an attempt to block illegal football streams, they have inadvertently made numerous legitimate websites hosted via Cloudflare inaccessible. This has massive repercussions for businesses and private users who rely on these services.
Targeted Blocking of Cloudflare IP Addresses
Since early February, Movistar customers have repeatedly encountered difficulties accessing popular online services such as GitHub, Microsoft, and Vercel. The reason: the telecom providers are deliberately interrupting connections to specific Cloudflare IP addresses that may be used for illegal streaming services. Although Movistar has merely referred to the incident as a “technical issue” on X (formerly Twitter), many indicators suggest an intentional blockade.
Selective Blocking – Not a Technical Glitch?
Normally, network problems can be resolved by routing traffic through alternative paths. However, in this case, it does not appear to be a typical outage but rather a targeted restriction. Tests using the RIPE Atlas network show that Movistar users nationwide are affected. What stands out: While certain Cloudflare IP addresses are blocked, adjacent addresses continue to function normally. This strongly suggests an intentional blockade.
A concrete example is IP address 104.21.48.1, used by Cloudflare for numerous websites. A connection via Movistar fails, while the neighboring address 104.21.48.2 remains accessible. This shows that the blocking is not blanket but applied selectively.
Link to Anti-Piracy Measures
Further evidence of targeted blocking comes from tests with other Spanish providers like Orange and Vodafone. Users on these networks receive an official message when trying to access certain Cloudflare addresses, stating that the website has been blocked by order of the authorities. These blocklists are managed by the Spanish football league LaLiga to combat illegal streaming services.
The affected addresses include 188.114.97.5 and 188.114.96.5, which serve many legitimate websites. Movistar and O2 customers can no longer access these sites, even though they have no connection to piracy.
Cloudflare and the ECH Protocol
A possible trigger for this aggressive blocking strategy is Cloudflare’s introduction of the new ECH protocol. ECH (Encrypted Client Hello) enhances user privacy by encrypting the exact website being accessed. As a result, ISPs can no longer selectively block illegal sites but must instead block entire IP addresses. This seems to be happening now: Movistar and O2 are blocking entire Cloudflare IP ranges, accepting that many legal websites become inaccessible as well.
Blocks Occur During Football Matches
Another indication of the link to football piracy is the timing of the disruptions. These occur most frequently during major football matches. For example, the first restrictions appeared on February 2 and were lifted the next day. On February 9—when LaLiga announced the shutdown of the illegal streaming platform DuckVision—major blocks were reintroduced.
Significant Impact on Businesses and Users
These measures have far-reaching consequences. Numerous businesses that secure their websites via Cloudflare are affected, losing potential customers. Developers using GitHub also struggle with connectivity issues. The practice of blocking entire IP addresses instead of specific illegal websites is causing substantial economic damage and frustration among users.
While other ISPs employ more targeted blocking mechanisms, Movistar appears to be using an extreme “all or nothing” approach. An official statement from Movistar is still pending.
Conclusion
Movistar and O2’s recent network restrictions demonstrate how aggressively some telecom providers are combating illegal streaming services—at the expense of many innocent websites. Customers are now forced to rely on VPN services to access legitimate content. Whether Movistar will adjust its blocking strategy remains to be seen. One thing, however, is clear: The fight against football piracy is currently harming more users than it helps.
Source: bandaancha.eu