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The CEO of networking company Cloudflare is Attacking Italy In response to anti-piracy regulatory fines, Cloudflare is threatening to withdraw from the country and the 2026 Winter Olympics.
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Italy announced on January 8 that it had imposed a fine of 14.2 million euros (about $16.5 million) against Cloudflare for failing to prevent access to pirated content. Shortly after, Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince I took to X To demand fines, he described Cloudflare’s decision not to comply as a battle over censorship. Prince said complying with Italy’s demands under its Piracy Shield policies would impact content globally.
Italy’s Piracy Shield is a program implemented by the country’s telecommunications regulator AGCOM. In order to reduce piracy in the country, such as hosting illegal sporting events, the program allows intellectual property rights holders to report content violations to an automated system for quick response. However, some have complained that the 30-minute period granted is not enough time for ISPs to properly screen complaints, and results in legitimate and non-pirated content being blocked as well.
“In other words, Italy is insisting that a shadowy European media cabal be able to dictate what is and is not allowed on the Internet,” Prince said.
Yesterday, a quasi-judicial body in Italy imposed a fine @Cloudflare $17 million for failing to follow through on their plan to censor the Internet. This scheme, which has raised concern even from the European Union, requires us within just 30 minutes of notification to impose complete internet censorship for any… pic.twitter.com/qZf9UKEAY5
– Matthew Prince 🌥 (@eastdakota) January 9, 2026
In his posts, Prince specifically mentioned the 30-minute timeframe Italy requires for Cloudflare to disable access to suspected hacking traffic.
“We block pirate streams every time we find them,” he wrote. “We hate themBut he said: “We can’t put in place a system where a shadowy cabal can ask us to remove anything they don’t like on the internet within 30 minutes globally.” “This is crazy.”
Some supporters of Italy’s piracy rules are soccer teams that want to prevent illegal broadcasts of their matches.
Prince went on to list steps his company might take, including withdrawing its cybersecurity service from the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, removing Cloudflare servers from Italian cities and halting any plans to invest in the country. Prince also suggested involving US government leaders, tagging Vice President J.D. Vance to his post. Prince also republished a letter addressed to the Italian Prime Minister, along with a letter An article on Italy’s actions.
A Cloudflare representative responded to a request for comment but did not provide a statement or comment from the company.
The Winter Olympics, scheduled to be held between February 6 and 22 in locations across Lombardy and northeastern Italy, are a sensitive topic when it comes to cybersecurity, considering the likelihood that many people have already done so. Use VPN technology To watch the event broadcast.