Cisco's withdrawal is almost certainly linked to an IPTV piracy blocking order obtained by DAZN; it requires OpenDNS, Cloudflare and Google to block over 100 pirate sites or face fines of €100,000 euros per day.
Just recently, Cisco withdrew from France over a similar order.
In Europe, countries including Italy and France have introduced legislation to ensure that if online services facilitate or assist piracy in any way, they can be compelled by law to help tackle it.
After Sony sued Quad9 and wider discussions opened up soon after, in 2023 Canal+ used French law to target DNS providers.
Last year, Google, Cloudflare, and Cisco were ordered to prevent their services from translating domain names into IP addresses used by dozens of sports piracy sites.
While all three companies objected, it’s understood that Cloudflare and Google eventually complied with the order.
Cisco’s compliance was also achieved, albeit by its unexpected decision to suspend access to its DNS service for the whole of France and the overseas territories listed in the order.
So Long France, Goodbye Belgium.