Submitted by Thomas Kolbe
Italian authorities are attempting to force the internet service provider Cloudflare to delete and block certain online services. Cloudflare is resisting and has turned to the U.S. government for support.
The fight for a free internet is intensifying.
The struggle over control of information, censorship, and economic dominance in the digital space is increasingly becoming a fundamental civilizational question. That the European Union now sees not only the EU Commission but also national governments and security apparatuses siding with information diktats, against the fundamental principle of free speech, sends a dangerous signal to the world. The EU has effectively withdrawn from the circle of freedom-oriented state actors.
Into this picture fits a recent report from Italy. A tweet by the founder and CEO of the internet infrastructure provider Cloudflare, Matthew Prince, has caused a stir.
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 reports that Cloudflare has been hit with a $17 million fine by a — as he calls it — clandestine cabal in Italy. The accusation: Cloudflare refused to participate in an Italian censorship mechanism at the behest of this group.
A Cabal of Regulators and Media Corporations
Specifically, this concerns a system controlled by the Italian media authority AGCOM (Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni) called the “Piracy Shield.” This blocking system is officially aimed at combating illegal sports and media streaming services. The main targets are the economic interests of major players such as Italy’s Serie A football league, Sky Italia, DAZN, Mediaset, and other large European media and rights corporations.
Private actors, comparable to the so-called “Trusted Flaggers” now familiar in Germany, operate on behalf of the Italian media sector within this system. They report websites, IP addresses, or suspicious domains to the Piracy Shield. The authority then compels internet service providers and infrastructure operators like Cloudflare to implement the corresponding blocks within just 30 minutes. Every advertising minute counts; piracy is indeed a dangerously significant economic factor. The question is: How do states and affected companies enforce copyright? Do they operate under the rule of law and avoid collateral damage, such as backdoor state censorship?
According to Prince, all of this happens without a judicial order or prior review, bypassing due legal process entirely. The measures affect not only allegedly illegal content but also deeply intrude into the technical infrastructure of the internet.
Cloudflare as a Critical Infrastructure Node
Cloudflare has announced that it will legally challenge the fine. As a U.S. company operating parts of its infrastructure in Europe, it is foreseeable that this conflict will quickly escalate to the political level. Prince has already stated that he will present the case in Washington this week. Italy should prepare for an uncomfortable confrontation with U.S. Vice President JD Vance, known for speaking bluntly on matters of free speech. Tricks and maneuvers by European policymakers are well known in U.S. government circles.
To understand the significance of this situation, one must look at Cloudflare’s business model. The company is one of the central pillars of internet infrastructure. It protects millions of websites from cyberattacks, accelerates data flows, and provides fundamental services like the DNS resolver 1.1.1.1. Cloudflare is not a traditional content provider but a digital shield — and precisely for this reason, a particularly vulnerable target for state censorship efforts.
Cloudflare’s current immunity from such interference is largely due to its U.S. headquarters. There, the current U.S. government explicitly supports internet freedom — regardless of European media and political criticisms of Donald Trump.
Censorship Instead of the Rule of Law
The collaboration between Italian regulatory authorities and powerful media corporations exposes a problem: Instead of choosing the lawful path through the courts — for example, by blocking financial flows to illegal services — actors resort to immediate, executive-enforced blocks. This creates infrastructure that enables far-reaching censorship, including against political opponents. Two goals appear to be pursued: enforcing national corporate interests and positioning the Italian surveillance apparatus within the broader trajectory of European policy increasingly focused on internet control and regulation.
Cloudflare’s CEO has made clear that this course could have immediate consequences for Italy. Planned responses include withdrawing free security services for Italian users, removing servers from Italian cities, and halting further investments in the country. Even the pro bono cybersecurity protection for the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics is now in question.
Italy is sending mixed signals. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government often positions itself against Brussels’ line — critical of the Ukraine war, skeptical of further climate regulation, and more restrictive on migration. That the country opens the door to regulatory arbitrariness in digital free speech is especially perplexing in this context.
Precedent Cloudflare
Cloudflare establishes a compelling precedent. European regulators are likely to scrutinize the legal consequences closely. For the EU, this could become a lever to enforce its own censorship measures more effectively, ultimately blocking unwanted platforms — such as Elon Musk’s X — and further narrowing the corridor of acceptable discourse.
However, Cloudflare, headquartered in San Francisco, is primarily subject to U.S. law. Neither Italy nor the European Union can globally regulate the company, which digitally secures around 20% of global internet traffic. The EU can only exert pressure within its internal market — through fines, proceedings against European subsidiaries, or by steadily expanding regulatory requirements.
That open escalation has not yet occurred is largely due to Cloudflare’s systemically important role for European business, public administration, and cybersecurity. A withdrawal of Cloudflare from European digital infrastructure would carry unpredictable technical risks and, amid rising hacker threats, significant economic damage.
Current indications suggest that the U.S. government will again place its protective hand over Cloudflare — and thus over central elements of free speech. Italy would then be forced to address illegal streaming and systematic rights violations through lawful means, such as cooperation with banks and payment providers. Negotiation, rather than wielding the regulatory hammer to crush fundamental rights, would become the unusual approach.
That calls to expand security agencies’ surveillance — for instance, Germany’s BND — show Europe sliding further down a slippery slope. Free speech risks losing its status as an inalienable right — and could once again emerge as a central civilizational hallmark in the United States.
Even Pope Leo XVI in his New Year’s address warned of the erosion of free speech in Western nations, a final cautionary signal against the descent into civilizational barbarism.
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About the author: Thomas Kolbe is a German graduate economist. For over 25 years, he has worked as a journalist and media producer for clients from various industries and business associations. As a publicist, he focuses on economic processes and observes geopolitical events from the perspective of the capital markets. His publications follow a philosophy that focuses on the individual and their right to self-determination.
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