Argentina Blocks Xuper TV & Magis TV: VPN Use Skyrockets
The article reports that an Argentine court ordered a major crackdown on the pirate IPTV services Magis TV and Xuper TV. The order blocked more than 70 domains connected to the services, after users across Argentina reported the apps stopped working on February 10 and 11, with channel lists failing to load and in some cases the apps disappearing from devices.
A key element of the enforcement was a directive involving Android. Judge Esteban Rossignoli ordered Google to remotely disable sideloaded apps on Android devices connecting from Argentine IP addresses, which the article frames as part of an unusually aggressive approach compared with typical domain blocking alone.
The operation is described as coordinated by Argentina’s Specialized Unit on Cybercrime and connected to Operación 404, a regional anti piracy effort led by Brazil’s Ministry of Justice. The report also mentions raids and the seizure of hundreds of IPTV boxes, with operators potentially facing prison time under the investigation.
The immediate public reaction highlighted in the piece is a sharp rise in VPN usage. The article points to signals such as spikes shown by Proton VPN and a surge in Google Trends interest for VPN searches in Argentina, alongside online guides suggesting workarounds to restore access.
Finally, the article notes timing and geopolitics. It points out that the crackdown followed a February 5 US and Argentina trade agreement that included strong intellectual property commitments, suggesting the broader policy environment may be reinforcing tougher enforcement against commercial scale piracy.
