Cloudflare is one of the most important pieces in the Jenga that keeps the internet going. We saw it between November and December when it went down twice, blocking access to a long list of services. In fact it works as a filter, it is an intermediary between the user who wants to connect to a site and the site itself. A service that allows users to quickly browse the web and protect sites from some hacker attacks. A filter that now threatens to withdraw from Italy.
Matthew Princeborn in 1974, is the CEO of Cloudflare. On January 9th from his account on X he threatened to suspend a good part of the services offered from his company in Italy, including the guaranteed commitment to the cybersecurity of the next Milan – Cortina Olympics. A threat that starts from a fine decided by AgCom, right against Cloudflare.
Why Matthew Prince attacked Italy
Matthew Prince’s words are quite difficult to misunderstand. “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes”. “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.” It all starts from fine of 14 million euros imposed by AgCom for the failure to apply the Piracy Shield, the system created to block broadcasting sites football matches and movies in streaming without having paid the royalties.
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In short, AgCom’s accusation against Cloudflare is that of not having respected the indications on the blackout of the sites. Cloudflare not only rejects the accusations but directly attacks Piracy Shield: “Italy insists that a shadowy European media cabal should be able to dictate what is and isn’t allowed online.”
And again: Prince criticizes the criteria with which the sites are eliminated: “No judicial supervision. No due process. No appeal. No transparency.” All points that have really been questioned in the first cases where the Piracy Shield was applied. Sometimes IPs have been blacked out for no reason. In all this the fine imposed on Cloudflare is more than double the turnover that the company recorded in 2024 in Italy (approx 8 million dollars).
In addition to rejecting the fine, Cloudflare’s CEO also said the company is considering it four measures:
- Stop i IT security services which we are providing pro bono at the next ones Milan-Cortina Olympics
- Stop i IT security services free from Cloudflare for users resident in Italy
- Remove all server from Italian cities
- Stop all plans to build a Cloudflare headquarters in Italy
All choices that at the moment would be complex to supportespecially for sites that do not have additional security guarantees beyond those offered by the free part of Cloudflare. The debate on X is quite heated. At a certain point the Northern League senator also intervened Claudio Borghi. Prince also explained that he does not rule out even more clear-cut solutions:
“It amazes me how many illustrious Italian technicians are writing me private messages to suggest that I block access to everything using Cloudflare for a week. I never thought of going that far either, but it makes you wonder what would break if we did.”
