🔥 Amazon's Blocking Sports Apps – You Need To Know!

Tech & Science

Amazon is implementing a significant crackdown against illegal streaming on its Fire TV Stick devices, following reports by The Athletic. The company is now actively blocking apps that facilitate access to pirated content – a longstanding issue, particularly concerning sports. This initiative has already commenced in France and Germany, with a global rollout planned over the coming weeks and months. Crucially, the ban will impact both new and existing Fire TV Stick models. This action directly addresses previous user workarounds, such as VPNs, that were used to bypass location-specific restrictions. Recent data, revealed in a YouGov survey commissioned by The Athletic, indicates a growing problem: nearly nine percent of adults in the UK – approximately 4.7 million people – illegally stream sports, a 200,000 increase compared to a two-year-old poll. Unauthorized websites remain the most prevalent method of illegal sports streaming, accounting for 42 percent of responses. However, plug-in devices like Fire Sticks are the second most common method, representing 31 percent of those engaging in illicit streaming. Notably, Amazon’s recent launch of the Fire TV Stick 4K Select, which utilizes a more secure, Linux-based operating system instead of the easily modified Android software found on older models, underscores the company’s commitment to bolstering security measures and limiting app downloads to those available exclusively through the Amazon app store.