Google advises the European Commission that 'blocking pirated sites with DNS resolvers, VPNs, and shared IP addresses will cause significant damage.'
Google has been ordered to block access to pirated websites using its DNS resolvers in some EU countries, including France and Italy. However, it has been revealed that Google has stated in a letter to the European Commission that 'blocking pirated websites would cause significant harm, and therefore DNS resolvers, VPNs, and shared IP addresses should not be targeted.'
Google Opposes Site Blocking in Europe as US Piracy Blocking Plans Gain Momentum * TorrentFreak
The European Commission, the executive body of the EU, has been soliciting comments since May 2026 on specific measures to improve the copyright environment. The aim of this solicitation is to adjust the EU's copyright framework, enhance the competitiveness of the EU's creative sector, and promote innovation. Specifically, it focuses on reviewing the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (DSMD), which was issued in 2019.
In response to this call for comments, Google submitted a letter criticizing the order to block pirated sites via its DNS resolvers. According to TorrentFreak, a news outlet that covers copyright-related issues, the document submitted by Google was classified, but it was later made public on the committee's website along with other submitted documents.
In its filing, Google argues that blocking VPNs and third-party DNS is 'unbalanced and ineffective,' and that blocking IP addresses also risks targeting the infrastructure of legitimate sites and services, thus opposing broad site blocking measures. Google stated, 'Blocking DNS resolvers, IP addresses, and VPNs is ineffective because the content is not removed and can be easily circumvented by using alternative DNS resolvers. On the other hand, it is an unbalanced measure because it can harm legitimate sites by blocking legitimate services, potentially affecting them internationally, or blocking entire domains.'
The submitted documents cite several examples to support Google's claims. In a December 2019 incident in Portugal, Google claimed that an ISP blocked Google's shared IP address, resulting in 'disruption of Google's core services and blocking legitimate traffic from other unrelated Google Cloud customers sharing the same virtual IP address.' Also, in October 2024, Italy's 'anti-piracy shield' blockage system expanded too broadly, resulting in Google Drive, several school websites, telecommunications companies, and ticketing services becoming inaccessible within Italy.
Google Drive was unusable for over 12 hours due to a mistake in domain blocking implemented as a copyright infringement prevention measure - GIGAZINE
In fact, according to a large-scale empirical study published on June 30, 2026, by the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) , a project that monitors internet censorship worldwide, it was found that after La Liga, Spain's football league, obtained a court order to stop the blocking of pirated sites, more than 554,000 domains were blocked at least once during live football matches. The blocked sites included websites such as Amnesty International, UNICEF, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Australian Senate, the Stanford Law Review, a leading independent legal journal in the United States, and Amazon S3 endpoints.
Google argues that dealing with pirated websites should prioritize standard removal measures, and that injunctions should only be used as a last resort when standard removal measures fail. Furthermore, it asserts that injunctions should be transparent, have a limited duration, and that the costs should be shared between rights holders and intermediaries. Regarding combating piracy, Google states, 'In our experience, unmet consumer demand is a major cause of copyright infringement. Therefore, one of the best ways to combat copyright infringement is to provide better, more convenient, and more legal alternatives.'
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