Cloudflare Fights Italian Piracy Law Fine

Cloudflare is contesting a hefty 14.2 million euro ($16.4 million) fine issued by Italy's communications regulator, AGCOM, in January 2026. The penalty stems from Cloudflare's refusal to block access to websites via its 1.1.1.1 DNS service, a requirement under Italy's Piracy Shield law.

The company has appealed this fine, which it calls 'staggering,' arguing that Piracy Shield is an "unsupervised electronic portal" that enables overblocking without due process. Cloudflare asserts the fine should have been capped at 140,000 euros ($161,000), based on Italian earnings, rather than its global revenue.

Cloudflare's challenge extends beyond the fine; it disputes the legality of Piracy Shield itself, a law designed to combat live sports piracy by requiring quick blocking of infringing domains and IP addresses. The company previously resisted a blocking order in February 2025, warning that censoring its DNS resolver could impact global services.

Despite AGCOM's rejection of Cloudflare's arguments, citing the law's effectiveness in disabling over 65,000 domain names, concerns persist. Past incidents, like the mistaken blocking of Google Drive in October 2024, and research from the University of Twente indicate "widespread overblocking." If Cloudflare loses its appeal in Rome, it has threatened to discontinue services or remove servers from Italy.

Cloudflare has also lodged a complaint with the European Commission, asserting that Piracy Shield conflicts with EU law, particularly the Digital Services Act. The company has seen encouraging signs, including a European Commission letter on June 13, 2025, criticizing the law's lack of oversight, and an Italian court ruling on December 23, 2025, demanding AGCOM share Piracy Shield records.