The CEO of the networking company Cloudflare is publicly criticizing Italy over regulatory fines for piracy,and Cloudflare is threatening to leave the country and possibly impact the 2026 Winter Olympics.
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Italy announced on Jan. 8 that it had fined Cloudflare 14.2 million euros (about $16.5 million) for not blocking pirated content. Shortly after, Cloudflare’s CEO Matthew Prince took to X to challenge the fines, calling it a fight against censorship. Prince saeid following Italy’s rules would affect content worldwide.
Italy’s Piracy Shield is run by the country’s telecommunications regulator AGCOM.It lets copyright holders report violations to a rapid, automated system to stop piracy, like illegal streams of sporting events. Though, some worry the 30-minute timeframe isn’t enough for internet service providers (ISPs) to check reports, leading to legitimate content being blocked by mistake.
“Simply put,Italy insists a secretive European group should decide what’s allowed online,” Prince said.
Yesterday a quasi-judicial body in Italy fined @Cloudflare $17 million for failing to go along with their scheme to censor the Internet. The scheme, which even the EU has called concerning, required us within a mere 30 minutes of notification to fully censor from the Internet any… pic.twitter.com/qZf9UKEAY5
— Matthew Prince 🌥 (@eastdakota) January 9, 2026
Prince highlighted the 30-minute rule Italy gives Cloudflare to block suspected piracy.
“We block pirate streams when we find them,” he wrote. “we hate them.” But, he said, “we can’t create a system were a hidden group can force us to remove anything they dislike from the internet within 30 minutes. That’s unreasonable.”
Some who support Italy’s rules are soccer teams wanting to prevent illegal streaming of their games.
Prince listed potential responses, including pulling cybersecurity services from the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, removing Cloudflare servers from Italian cities, and pausing investments in the country. He also said he would contact US government officials, tagging Vice President JD vance in his post. prince also shared an article about Italy’s actions addressed to the Italian prime minister.
A Cloudflare spokesperson acknowledged a request for comment but didn’t provide a statement.
The Winter Olympics, from Feb. 6 to Feb. 22 in Lombardy and Northeast Italy, is a sensitive subject for cybersecurity, as many people might use VPN technology to watch the events.
