IFPI Welcomes European Commission’s “Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List”

15 December 2020 - Press release

The European Commission has published its Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List, exposing online service providers established outside of the European Union (EU) that engage in or facilitate intellectual property rights infringement affecting European rightsholders.

The list is intended to raise awareness across law enforcement and policymakers outside the EU of the role and impact of these services.

Commenting on the Watch List, IFPI Chief Executive Frances Moore, said: “In addition to the many ways that music benefits our lives culturally and emotionally, it contributes €81.9 billion annually to the EU economy and supports two million jobs. This contribution is jeopardized by the digital platforms identified by the Commission.

“This year, in addition to identifying several music stream ripping sites, we are encouraged to see that the report recognises social media platforms as a new category, and that it highlights that companies in this category, such as Telegram, simply must do more to put in place effective measures to prevent large scale copyright infringements on their services.

“We hope that the Watch List will raise awareness of these problematic activities and practices and encourage enforcement action and action by intermediaries to prevent misuse of their services. Such steps are vital to protect content for the benefit of our members, artists and their fans.”

Sites identified by the Commission include: wi.to/Ddl.to; Dbree.org; Y2Mate.come and Youtubeconverter.io; Flvto.biz and 2Conv.com; Telegram; Rapidgator.net; Savefrom.net; 4shared.com; uploaded.net; 1337x.to; Rarbg.to; Music-Bazaar.com; and Music-Bazaar.mobi.