Video courses on Telegram: how to protect them from piracy
Why video courses end up on Telegram, what Italian law says, and what actually protects a course: DRM, per-student watermarks and a device limit.
Why do video courses end up on Telegram?
Video courses end up on Telegram because it offers a ready-made distribution channel: groups with thousands of subscribers, large file uploads, and no cost for whoever runs them. The most frequent scenario is a student who bought the course and uploads it, rather than a hacker.
The mechanism is simple. Someone buys the course for 500 euros, downloads or records the lessons and uploads them to a channel. Whoever runs the channel makes them available to its subscribers. Your student needs no skills: a phone is enough.
One figure helps convey the scale of the phenomenon, even though it is not about courses. An academic preprint from May 2026 (not yet peer reviewed) analyzed 1,057 Telegram channels dedicated to movie and series piracy, with about 209,000 posts and over 4.85 billion views (arXiv). It shows that Telegram works as a large-scale distribution infrastructure, not that courses follow the same numbers.
For courses in particular, in the sources we consulted there is only one number, and it comes from an interested party. A report by VdoCipher, a company that sells video protection, covered by Storyboard18 in December 2024, describes over 5,000 Telegram groups devoted to pirated courses in India, with an estimated loss of about 2,000 crore rupees (Storyboard18). It is a vendor’s estimate, about a different market: we cite it for the order of magnitude, not as a measure for Italy.
What we actually know about Italy
In the sources we consulted there are no official surveys on video course piracy in Italy. What exists concerns other content and should be read as context.
- According to the FAPAV/Ipsos Doxa survey on 2025, presented on 23 June 2026, 37% of adults committed at least one act of audiovisual piracy, for about 290.6 million acts. The estimated damage to the national economy is 2.3 billion euros of turnover (Calcio e Finanza, in Italian). It covers films, series, TV programmes and sport, not courses, and the article reporting it does not explain how the damage is calculated.
- In September 2025 AGCOM opened a copyright infringement proceeding against Telegram Messenger Inc (Digital Policy Alert). The case concerns other content, but it confirms the platform is under scrutiny.
- In October 2022 the Guardia di Finanza seized 545 Telegram channels distributing newspapers and magazines, with 8 suspects (Il Fatto Quotidiano, in Italian).
See the data as a table
| Content | Share |
|---|---|
| Films | 28% |
| Series and fiction | 23% |
| TV programmes | 19% |
| Live sport | 14% |
A note on method: FAPAV distinguishes between acts of piracy, lost viewings and estimated damage, and the economic damage is an estimate, not a measured revenue loss. Your real loss depends on your course and your price: you cannot infer it from these figures.
What does Italian law say about reselling courses?
Italian copyright law (Law 633/1941) also protects educational works. Article 171-ter punishes with imprisonment from six months to three years anyone who unlawfully reproduces or distributes works, educational ones included, for profit. This is a summary, not legal advice.
In more detail, article 171-ter, paragraph 1, letter b, expressly mentions the unauthorized reproduction and distribution of "literary, dramatic, scientific or educational works or parts of works" (Normattiva, in Italian). A video course falls into that category.
Law 93 of 2023 then strengthened the framework: from 8 August 2023 it added a new offense for the unauthorized recording of audiovisual and publishing works, excluded the "particular tenuity" exemption for the offenses in this section, and raised the administrative penalty under article 174-ter from 1,032 to 5,000 euros (Sistema Penale, in Italian).
The practical point is that "taking action" can mean three different things, each with its own route:
- Getting the copy removed. You can ask the platform, as we explain below for Telegram, even without knowing who uploaded it.
- Finding out which account it came from. This needs a trace: a channel with thousands of subscribers does not tell you which of your students shared the lessons.
- Seeking compensation. This is a legal matter to assess with a lawyer, and it usually presupposes being able to name someone responsible.
Public tools exist, but they are not designed for courses. Piracy Shield, AGCOM’s platform, was created for live sport and since July 2025 has been extended to all audiovisual content broadcast live (AGCOM, in Italian). A recorded video course is not live content. For violations of digital works AGCOM runs a separate channel, rights-holder complaints (DDAonline): whether and how it applies to your course should be checked with a lawyer.
DRM or watermark: what actually protects a video course?
DRM protects the file: it blocks direct downloads and, on compatible devices, can stop some software screen recordings. It cannot stop someone filming the screen with another camera. A per-student watermark does not prevent copying: it helps link a copy to an account. The two protections solve different problems and do not replace each other.
What DRM does
DRM encrypts the video and makes it readable only by an authorized player. It blocks direct download and sharing of the file as it is. On some systems it does more: Apple documents that with FairPlay Streaming the video is not captured by iOS screen recording or by QuickTime on macOS, and the playback area appears blacked out (Apple). The protection covers the video, not the audio, and depends on the system and player used.
One limit no DRM closes: if someone points a camera or a phone at the screen, the lesson is copied anyway, albeit at lower quality.
What a per-student watermark does
The watermark is a personal code shown as an overlay on the video, tied to the account of whoever is watching. If the lesson is recorded and uploaded and the code stays visible and readable in the copy, you can look it up in the platform’s records and link it to the account it came from.
It helps to tell two things apart. A visible overlay, like ours, can be seen and therefore also works as a deterrent, but whoever copies can try to cover or crop it. A forensic watermark is invisible, embedded in the video, and helps identify the source even when the overlay is missing; it requires specific tools. In either case, identifying an account is not the same as proving who the person was: the account may have been lent or compromised.
The idea is that it acts as a deterrent even before it acts as evidence: anyone who knows that every lesson carries their own code has more than one reason not to upload it. The best-known case of tracing a leak is the Oscar "screeners": copies that circulated online were traced, through the individual watermark, to a single actor, who admitted sending his copies to a third party, as told in a press release by Digimarc, a company that sells watermarking (Digimarc). It is an interested source and a case from many years ago: it illustrates the principle, not the effectiveness of a specific implementation, ours included.
One thing must be said honestly: we found no independent study that measures how many leaks DRM or watermarks prevent. Material promising precise percentages, like "70% fewer leaks", comes from vendors, and we do not use it.
The device limit
The third layer is the simplest: limit the devices from which an account can watch videos. If a single account is used by ten people, the limit makes it obvious and discourages credential sharing, a "silent" form of resale.
| DRM | Per-student watermark | Device limit | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prevent: downloading the file as it is | Yes | No | No |
| Prevent: capturing the screen with software | Partly | No | No |
| Prevent: filming the screen with another camera | No | No | No |
| Prevent: lending or selling the account | No | Partly | Yes |
| Attribute: linking the copy to an account | No | Partly | No |
“Partly” for DRM means it depends on the system and player; for the watermark, that it works only if the code stays readable in the copy. This is a qualitative comparison, not a measurement: we found no independent studies on how effective these protections are.
How Tea’s protection works
Tea is the platform we are building around exactly this problem. For every student it shows a personal, moving watermark on the video, limits each account to two devices, and logs access and playback. If a video leaks and the code is readable, you can check whether it matches one of your students.
We do not promise the impossible. A file recorded with a phone pointed at the screen exists all the same. What changes is that, if the code stays visible, it is no longer anonymous: you can link it to an account and look into the logged access. Whoever uploaded it knows you could do that.
If you want to try it before launch, we are selecting a few creators for the Pilot.
What to do if your course is already out there
If you find your course on Telegram, the first thing is to keep the evidence. Then you can write to Telegram: for public bots, channels and groups its FAQ gives the address dmca@telegram.org and asks that the report come from the rights holder or an authorized representative. Private chats and groups are reserved for their participants, and Telegram states it does not process requests about them (Telegram FAQ). There is no guarantee of timing or outcome.
- Document. Collect links to the channel and to individual messages, the channel name, the number of subscribers, and screenshots with date and time, before everything is deleted or renamed.
- Report. Write to dmca@telegram.org with the points in the template below.
- Check who has access. Verify whether your students have device limits and whether you have a record of access; if you use a per-student watermark, check whether the code is readable in the copy.
- Ask for legal advice. A lawyer who specializes in copyright can tell you whether and how to act in your case, including for compensation.
- Protect your next course. The most effective way to avoid a second case is for a leak to be traceable from day one.
For the full sequence, with a ready-to-use email template, see the guide checklist and report template for a pirated course on Telegram. A well-made report contains this information:
- who you are and in what capacity you write: rights holder or authorized representative;
- which work was copied, with a link to the course’s official page;
- where the copy is: links to the channel and the messages;
- a statement that the content is distributed without your authorization;
- the evidence: screenshots with date and time;
- a contact for replies.
Frequently asked questions
Can a video course be completely protected from copying?
No, no technology can completely prevent a video course from being copied: anyone watching a video on a screen can always film it with another camera. Protections make copying harder, discourage it and, if they leave a readable trace, let you link a copy to an account. Anyone promising total protection is promising something nobody can guarantee.
Is DRM enough to protect a video course from piracy?
No, DRM alone is not enough: it encrypts the file, blocks direct downloads and, on compatible devices, can stop some software screen recordings. It cannot stop someone filming the screen with another camera. That is why it is paired with a personal watermark for each student, which helps link a copy to the account it came from. We found no independent study that measures how many leaks either one prevents.
How do you find out who leaked a video course on Telegram?
If the leaked copy still shows the personal watermark, you read it: it is a code tied to the student’s account, shown as an overlay while they watch. Looking up that code in the platform’s records leads to the account the recording came from. That does not prove who the person was: the account may have been lent. Without a per-student watermark, there is usually no way to know where a copy came from.
Is reselling a video course on Telegram illegal in Italy?
Yes, in Italy distributing or reselling a video course without authorization for profit is a criminal offense: article 171-ter of Law 633/1941 also protects educational works and provides for imprisonment from six months to three years. This is a summary, not legal advice: for a specific case you need a lawyer.
What is a dynamic per-student watermark?
A dynamic per-student watermark is a personal code, tied to the account, that appears as a moving overlay on the video while the student watches. If a copy ends up online and the code stays readable, it lets you link the copy to the account it was recorded from. It does not prevent recording: it makes it riskier for whoever does it.
What should you do if you find your course pirated on Telegram?
If you find your course pirated on Telegram, keep the evidence right away: links to the channel and the messages, the number of subscribers, and screenshots with date and time. Then write to dmca@telegram.org as the rights holder or an authorized representative: Telegram handles public content, not private chats and groups. Decide with a copyright lawyer whether to take legal action as well.
Sources
- arXiv preprint 2605.08418, May 2026, "Binge, Bot, Repeat": analysis of 1,057 Telegram channels. Not peer reviewed; covers films and series. arxiv.org/abs/2605.08418
- Storyboard18, 12 December 2024, reporting the VdoCipher report on course piracy in India. A source from a video protection vendor. storyboard18.com
- Calcio e Finanza (in Italian), June 2026, on the FAPAV/Ipsos Doxa survey for 2025 (presented 23 June 2026). calcioefinanza.it
- Digital Policy Alert, AGCOM proceeding against Telegram Messenger Inc., 11 September 2025. digitalpolicyalert.org
- Il Fatto Quotidiano (in Italian), 7 October 2022, seizure of 545 Telegram channels by the Guardia di Finanza. ilfattoquotidiano.it
- Art. 171-ter, Law 633/1941 (in Italian), on Normattiva. normattiva.it
- Sistema Penale (in Italian), on the changes made by Law 93/2023 to copyright offenses. sistemapenale.it
- AGCOM (in Italian), Anti-piracy and Piracy Shield, on the 2025 extension and the DDAonline channel. agcom.it
- Apple, QA1970, on FairPlay Streaming and screen capture. developer.apple.com
- Telegram FAQ, on copyright infringement reports. telegram.org
- Digimarc, press release on the Academy screeners case. A vendor source, an old case. digimarc.com