Italy has slapped Cloudflare with a hefty fine of 14.2 million euros for refusing to block access to pirate sites on its 1.1.1.1 DNS service, according to the country's communications regulatory agency, AGCOM. The company, however, says it will fight the penalty and is considering taking drastic measures, including removing all its servers from Italian cities.
The fine was issued under Italy's controversial Piracy Shield law, which requires companies like Cloudflare to disable DNS resolution of domain names and routing of traffic to IP addresses reported by copyright holders. The law provides for fines up to 2 percent of a company's annual turnover, with AGCOM applying a fine equal to 1 percent.
Cloudflare had argued that installing a filter on its DNS system would significantly increase latency and negatively affect DNS resolution for sites that aren't subject to the dispute over piracy. However, AGCOM rejected this argument, saying the required blocking would impose no risk on legitimate websites because the targeted IP addresses were all uniquely intended for copyright infringement.
The Piracy Shield law was adopted in 2024 with the aim of tackling live sports piracy. However, critics say it has a number of concerns that can inadvertently affect legitimate online services, particularly due to the potential for overblocking.
In September 2025, researchers found "hundreds of legitimate websites unknowingly affected by blocking," with unknown operators experiencing service disruption and illegal streamers continuing to evade enforcement by exploiting the abundance of address space online. This is described as a conservative lower-bound estimate.
Google has also been in the crosshairs of the Piracy Shield law, with AGCOM ordering it to block pirate sites at the DNS level. The Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) has criticized the law, saying that Italian authorities have included virtual private networks and public DNS resolvers in the Piracy Shield, which are services fundamental to the protection of free expression.
The CCIA has also questioned the 30-minute blocking window, saying it leaves extremely limited time for careful verification by ISPs that the submitted destination is indeed being used for piracy purposes. The trade group argues that the law requires "filtering and tasks that collide with individual freedoms" and is contrary to European legislation that classifies broadband network services as mere conduits that are exempt from liability.
Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince has vowed to fight the fine, saying that Cloudflare will "not be intimidated by this unjust fine." He also stated that the company is considering taking drastic measures, including discontinuing pro bono cyber security services for Italian users and removing its servers from Italian cities. The decision is seen as a response to what Prince describes as a "shadowy, European media cabal" attempting to dictate what is and is not allowed online.
The fine was issued under Italy's controversial Piracy Shield law, which requires companies like Cloudflare to disable DNS resolution of domain names and routing of traffic to IP addresses reported by copyright holders. The law provides for fines up to 2 percent of a company's annual turnover, with AGCOM applying a fine equal to 1 percent.
Cloudflare had argued that installing a filter on its DNS system would significantly increase latency and negatively affect DNS resolution for sites that aren't subject to the dispute over piracy. However, AGCOM rejected this argument, saying the required blocking would impose no risk on legitimate websites because the targeted IP addresses were all uniquely intended for copyright infringement.
The Piracy Shield law was adopted in 2024 with the aim of tackling live sports piracy. However, critics say it has a number of concerns that can inadvertently affect legitimate online services, particularly due to the potential for overblocking.
In September 2025, researchers found "hundreds of legitimate websites unknowingly affected by blocking," with unknown operators experiencing service disruption and illegal streamers continuing to evade enforcement by exploiting the abundance of address space online. This is described as a conservative lower-bound estimate.
Google has also been in the crosshairs of the Piracy Shield law, with AGCOM ordering it to block pirate sites at the DNS level. The Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) has criticized the law, saying that Italian authorities have included virtual private networks and public DNS resolvers in the Piracy Shield, which are services fundamental to the protection of free expression.
The CCIA has also questioned the 30-minute blocking window, saying it leaves extremely limited time for careful verification by ISPs that the submitted destination is indeed being used for piracy purposes. The trade group argues that the law requires "filtering and tasks that collide with individual freedoms" and is contrary to European legislation that classifies broadband network services as mere conduits that are exempt from liability.
Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince has vowed to fight the fine, saying that Cloudflare will "not be intimidated by this unjust fine." He also stated that the company is considering taking drastic measures, including discontinuing pro bono cyber security services for Italian users and removing its servers from Italian cities. The decision is seen as a response to what Prince describes as a "shadowy, European media cabal" attempting to dictate what is and is not allowed online.
Cloudflare getting hit with a 14.2 million euro fine for refusing to block pirate sites on its DNS service is just crazy. I mean, I get it, piracy's a big deal and all that, but the way Italy's handled this has got to be one of the most concerning things I've seen in a long time.
. It's been adopted since 2024 with the intention of stopping live sports piracy, and while that's all well and good, it seems like it's got some serious flaws 
. Like how it requires companies to block access to entire domains without any real verification process - what if someone just submits a bunch of IP addresses and suddenly you're blocking all their sites? No thanks 
.
. I mean, I get it, they don't want to be fined 14.2 million euros or whatever 
, but this isn't the way to handle it.
. That's not right at all 
. And let's not forget about virtual private networks and public DNS resolvers being included in this law, which are basically essential for free expression online 
.
, but it's clear that something needs to be done here 
. Cloudflare might want to fight this fine, but I think they should also try to rethink the law itself - like, seriously rethink it 
.
this fine is just the beginning if they take their servers out of italian cities its gonna cause so much disruption 
and what about all those legit websites that got blocked by accident? 
cant we just find a better way to deal with piracy instead of suffocating the whole internet? 
... I mean, how can you block entire IP addresses without any real oversight or checks? It just doesn't seem right 
... I just hope someone figures out a better way to tackle live sports piracy without sacrificing our online freedoms 
. But at the same time, 14.2 million euros seems like an awfully steep fine 
. Like, I get it, no one wants to be the internet police 
... but come on, Cloudflare can't just claim they're fighting for freedom and then go all "I'm gonna pull out of Italy if you don't like it" 
.
. The law needs some tweaks to ensure it doesn't stifle legitimate services, imo 
.
. It's like they're going too far with blocking legit sites without proper verification. I mean, how are you supposed to verify if a site is using pirated content when it's just a DNS request? 
. But on the other hand, it seems like they're basically creating a giant filter that can accidentally block legit websites too 
. Like, hundreds of websites got affected just last month! 
.
It sounds like a recipe for overblocking, and that would be a total disaster 
. On one hand, tackling live sports piracy is definitely needed, but the way they're doing it seems like a huge overreach. Blocking entire IP addresses can have serious consequences for legitimate websites and services 
. I'd love to see Cloudflare fighting this fine, but at the same time, I hope they don't take drastic measures that could hurt innocent users 
. Maybe it's time for Italy to rethink their approach and find a better way to balance online piracy with free expression 
... err i mean they're trying to protect themselves from being fined. so it's 14.2 million euros or so because they refused to block those pesky pirate sites on their dns service. but let's be real, who doesn't love a good game of cat and mouse with the authorities? cloudflare's like "hey we can't stop pirates" and the italian gov is all "nope you gotta do it anyway"... sounds like a recipe for disaster 
14.2 million euros is a lot of money! i feel bad for the company though, they're saying that blocking those sites would mess up their dns service and it's like... fair point? 
. All that latency talk was legit, they don't wanna mess with innocent websites 
. And btw, Google's getting dragged into this too? Talk about a domino effect 
. i'm not sure what cloudflare's thinking with drastic measures tho 
.
. I mean, what about all the legit websites that get caught in the crossfire? 
.
. The law is so vague and it's affecting legitimate services in the process 
. Cloudflare needs to stand firm, but also consider alternatives that don't compromise individual freedoms 
1.4 million euros fine for cloudflare is crazy talk! they cant just block access to pirate sites w/o affecting legit websites, rite? 