For over 15 years, so for a few years before Muammar Gaddafi was killed by USA forces.

Although the country is goegraphically large, it has a very small population, which is almost entirely living in Tripoli, the capital. Ever since the fall of Gaddafi, the country has been in a civil war and only recently (2022) managed to keep itself more or less stable.

When you keep that in mind, it's easy to imagine that the country's economy is still in tatters and maybe trying to recover, so not everyone might have good internet and even less might know how/where to pirate stuff. Even if legal stuff was available, I doubt most people would be able to buy, so pirate stuff makes a lot more sense.