Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Background: Italy’s “Piracy Shield” and the Cloudflare fine

  • Italy’s regulator AGCOM uses “Piracy Shield” to force fast blocking (within 30 minutes) of IPs/domains accused of live sports piracy, especially football streams.
  • Orders target ISPs, CDNs and DNS resolvers, including 1.1.1.1. Blocks are issued on rights‑holders’ claims with little apparent verification or judicial oversight.
  • Cloudflare was fined ~€14m (reported as >200% of its Italian revenue) for not implementing these blocks on its resolver and CDN; AGCOM argues CF has long been notified and invited into the process.

Global vs local blocking and technical disputes

  • One camp says Italy is overreaching by effectively demanding global DNS and CDN blocks based on an Italian process, with no appeal, transparency, or due process.
  • Others reply AGCOM only wants blocking inside Italy; they argue Cloudflare is exaggerating “global censorship” and could do IP or country‑based filtering.
  • There’s disagreement over whether Cloudflare genuinely can’t comply without harming performance, or is using its anycast architecture as leverage by making collateral damage expensive.

Free speech, copyright, and foreign influence

  • Some frame this as a pure copyright issue (sports rights), not “free speech.” Others say the same mechanism could easily be weaponized for wider censorship, so resisting it matters.
  • Several commenters tie this into broader EU speech controls (German DNS blocks, UK Online Safety Act, Chat Control proposals) and foreign disinformation (Russian/Chinese state operations, US influence).
  • There’s a deep split: one side insists unrestricted speech is essential even if it enables propaganda; the other argues democracies must curb coordinated foreign manipulation.

Reaction to the CEO’s rhetoric

  • Many initially agree with Cloudflare’s legal/technical stance, then recoil at the post’s tone: “shadowy cabal” language, “play stupid games” bravado, and the AI caricature of European officials.
  • The explicit praise and tagging of high‑profile US political figures (seen by many Europeans as authoritarian or hypocritical on free speech) is widely viewed as self‑discrediting and polarizing.
  • Several see this as reckless “Twitter‑brain” CEO behavior that makes Cloudflare look like a politicized US actor rather than neutral infrastructure.

Exit threats and centralization risk

  • Cloudflare is considering: ending free services in Italy (including to journalists/NGOs), pulling Italian servers, and cancelling investment and Olympic security support.
  • Supporters say leaving a jurisdiction that fines you more than you earn is rational. Critics call it “collective punishment” and a reminder that relying on a single US provider is dangerous.
  • Some Europeans explicitly welcome US tech pullback as a catalyst for EU “digital sovereignty” and migration to regional CDNs and DNS providers.