Cloudflare fined €14M for violating anti-piracy regulations

The Italian competition authority, AGCOM, has issued a fine to Cloudflare for ignoring an official request to block certain IP addresses, which are notorious for being used to promote piracy.

In February 2025, the regulator ordered the internet service provider to block access to a series of websites that contained copyrighted content. However, the company refused to comply with the request to block these websites via its public 1.1.1.1 DNS resolver.

According to Cloudflare, the request was unreasonable, disproportionate, and impractical, as it would require the company to build a filter that checks all DNS requests. Furthermore, this would lead to significant delays in internet traffic and potentially result in global censorship.

For infringing AGCOM’s request to block these pirated websites via its public DNS resolver, the Italian competition supervisor considers this a violation of the country’s Privacy Shield regulation.

This set of rules was adopted in February 2024 to offer users the option to report websites that distribute copyrighted material without permission. Companies that are reported have to comply with a blocking request within 30 minutes.

For violating the Privacy Shield rules, the regulator is allowed to impose a fine of up to 2% of Cloudflare’s annual global turnover. However, AGCOM issued a fine of only 1% of the company’s overall turnover, which is approximately €14.2 million ($17 million).

“With this decision, AGCOM is fully enforcing the anti-piracy law, which has expressly expanded the list of entities required to combat acts of piracy by following up on the Authority’s orders to include all public service providers involved in any way in the accessibility of illegal websites or services, such as VPN service providers and publicly available DNS providers, wherever they are based and wherever they are located,” the regulator stated in a press release.

In a message on X, Matthew Prince, co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare, calls AGCOM’s request to censor the internet “disgusting” and therefore will appeal the agency’s fine.

“We, of course, will now fight the unjust fine. Not just because it’s wrong for us but because it is wrong for democratic values,” Prince said.

Additionally, Cloudflare is considering discontinuing millions of dollars in pro bono cybersecurity services for the upcoming Milano-Cortina Olympics and its free cybersecurity services for Italian users.

Lastly, the service provider is considering removing all its servers in Italy and terminating plans to build a Cloudflare office in the country or make any investments.

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