I hope the Italian government learns just how ridiculous their asinine censorship policies are.
Mindfucker223 on
Just give them a taste, 3 days. They’ll freak out
Top_Housing_6251 on
How dare a sovereign government pass its own laws
grumpy_autist on
When I mentioned this 3 days ago, people downvoted me saying this is impossible and Cloudflare will not even consider that. Hehe, lmao.
IngwiePhoenix on
This is a very mixed bag of things.
On the one hand, a democratic country, in the EU, should never poison DNS, because it itself feels harmed (be that true or not). On the other, CloudFlare being this absurdly powerful _is_ a problem.
But CFs size is a train that has long left the station… when people complained about the initial wave of hyper-centralization (remember when “cloud” was the current exec buzzword?) they did not listen. Now, those companies are literally so big, that they can bully a government – legitimately.
On the other hand is the issue of self-sovereignity of a country. Like it or not, it is within their right to disallow, outlaw and ban stuff.
I stand here: CloudFlare is a US company – Italy has no juristiction over them. If they want to block things, they should use their local ISPs to do so. And if they can’t – well, guess it’s shopping time? Im sure there’s companies that would **love** to sell that kinda software… cough, cough. :p
slimvim on
I have mixed feelings on this as I’m pro-piracy and against censorship. But on the other hand, fuck American corporations trying to threaten sovereign European nations.
Prudent_Trickutro on
Kinda ironic that the only ones fighting against government overreach and censorship are US tech companies. But, thank you I guess.
Artistic-Tip2405 on
It looks like Cloudfare has grounds to appeal the decision.
Hour_Law_2726 on
The less american business we have in europe the better so we can breathe and thrive again. Push them all out
acart005 on
Yea if you actuallu read the article Italy is being hilariously stupid here. And Cloudflare should pull out and leave them fucked.
Oli_Picard on
As a Brit I currently use Cloudflare’s paid products and free products. This news has caused me to start migrating my sites and services to European alternatives. I understand why the CEO Is doing this but I don’t want my sites to go down.
cas4076 on
I’m with Italy on this. Yes the new laws are poorly designed but Cloudflare is acting like a schoolyard bully. The law is the law and if you don’t like it work with the Gov to get it refined and working better.
Since when is it acceptable for corporations to decide what a country can and cannot do?
darknezx on
Does anyone know if the other dns services are complying? Can’t imagine users who switched to these dns services wanting to get blocked.
RiriaaeleL on
What in god’s name is going on in this thread?
Good for them as in good for Italy not cloudflare, good fucking riddance
gpl94 on
To give some context; this is all because boomers who don’t know shit about tech keep losing the money that they have invested in football.
Serie A has lost its prestige. The Nazionale can’t qualify for the WC. They keep losing viewership numbers and rather than optimizing their shit service they price gouge. People pirate football matches, the boomers (who mostly finance Meloni’s government) cry and despite the technical savvy experts repeatedly saying “this is fucking stupid, do not do this” the government acquiesces and passes draconian laws to monitor internet traffic.
Fuck boomers, fuck the Italian government, and fuck American corporations that have such monopolies they can bully governments.
Everything sucks here.
TowerHou on
The Italian request ignores how the internet works, but Cloudflare’s response is even more concerning.
The request, which comes not from the government itself but from Italy’s independent telecommunications authority, is straightforward: apply a worldwide block to illegal content sourced from Italian companies. This is technically impossible (or at least not cost-effective), as Cloudflare explained. However, it remains true that if I want to stream illegal content, Cloudflare’s DNS is currently the best option.
What is truly worrying is the CEO’s outburst on X. Regardless of whether he is right, his reaction is alarming. The fine is not even confirmed yet, he can appeal to Italian courts and would likely win. Instead, he used this case to spread some sort of free speech propaganda, conflating it with many unrelated issues. He already did something similar a few months ago.
If the CEO of a critical infrastructure company feels free to threaten a country with this tone, that is deeply troubling. I will be looking for alternatives asap, though the problem is that no one else is as good (and as cheap) as Cloudflare.
Radiant_Clue on
Good riddance, get non-american/israeli alternatives (Imperva CDN/WAF is now french)
That’s why cloudflare believes they are important now and can push back to a whole damn country.
StarFirezzz on
Instead of making viewing of football matches more affordable, we would rather block the internet for everyone in Italy. This is the arguments people are agreeing with, it’s literally just LaLiga blocking the internet for everyone during football matches because they don’t want pirates watching football.
SwimAd1249 on
Not the first time this is happening. AirVPN won’t operate in Italy (or more accurately for residents of Italy) either. Their laws are fucked.
perivascularspaces on
As an italian, fuck Italy and fuck the chrony capitalism and dinosaurs trying to kill the internet for a few million euros to an already over rich and over spending industry.
Let’s hope CF fuck them hard. Imagine if this works and any government can fuck up the internet for everyone.
ClexAT on
This is exactly what I warned about 15 years ago. FAANG and others are so powerful they can trigger or stop entire wars. All without state oversight.
aiart13 on
Each day this tech companies act more and more like terrorists. Demands and threats is what we’ve heard of them on a daily basis.
jfp1992 on
Hmm
Cloud flair turning off Italy (essentially) would make the people angry enough to protest the decision to be reversed
Imagine going to wikipedia and seeing a message that says, sorry Italians cloud flair isn’t available in your country
I wish more sites blocked the UK instead of complying to scrape our passports to a third party
Used_Hand_700 on
It’s wild to see a company reach this level of influence, but Italy’s approach does seem like a clumsy way to enforce its laws. Blocking at the ISP level would be a more sovereign move than trying to strong-arm a foreign corporation. Honestly, this whole situation just highlights the massive power imbalance that’s been building for years.
MrOaiki on
Can someone sum this up for me, so I understand the background to this?
MrOaiki on
> And it required us not just to censor the content in Italy but globally. In other words, Italy insists a shadowy, European media cabal should be able to dictate what is and is not allowed online.
Well… they’re just asking them to block illegal content. Don’t they already block globally illegal things? I think they do.
gh0s1_ on
Leave DNS alone!
EasedCeiling586 on
I’d like both Matthew Prince and CloudFlare to be upset/ripped off.
29 Comments
Good for them!
I hope the Italian government learns just how ridiculous their asinine censorship policies are.
Just give them a taste, 3 days. They’ll freak out
How dare a sovereign government pass its own laws
When I mentioned this 3 days ago, people downvoted me saying this is impossible and Cloudflare will not even consider that. Hehe, lmao.
This is a very mixed bag of things.
On the one hand, a democratic country, in the EU, should never poison DNS, because it itself feels harmed (be that true or not). On the other, CloudFlare being this absurdly powerful _is_ a problem.
But CFs size is a train that has long left the station… when people complained about the initial wave of hyper-centralization (remember when “cloud” was the current exec buzzword?) they did not listen. Now, those companies are literally so big, that they can bully a government – legitimately.
On the other hand is the issue of self-sovereignity of a country. Like it or not, it is within their right to disallow, outlaw and ban stuff.
I stand here: CloudFlare is a US company – Italy has no juristiction over them. If they want to block things, they should use their local ISPs to do so. And if they can’t – well, guess it’s shopping time? Im sure there’s companies that would **love** to sell that kinda software… cough, cough. :p
I have mixed feelings on this as I’m pro-piracy and against censorship. But on the other hand, fuck American corporations trying to threaten sovereign European nations.
Kinda ironic that the only ones fighting against government overreach and censorship are US tech companies. But, thank you I guess.
It looks like Cloudfare has grounds to appeal the decision.
The less american business we have in europe the better so we can breathe and thrive again. Push them all out
Yea if you actuallu read the article Italy is being hilariously stupid here. And Cloudflare should pull out and leave them fucked.
As a Brit I currently use Cloudflare’s paid products and free products. This news has caused me to start migrating my sites and services to European alternatives. I understand why the CEO Is doing this but I don’t want my sites to go down.
I’m with Italy on this. Yes the new laws are poorly designed but Cloudflare is acting like a schoolyard bully. The law is the law and if you don’t like it work with the Gov to get it refined and working better.
Since when is it acceptable for corporations to decide what a country can and cannot do?
Does anyone know if the other dns services are complying? Can’t imagine users who switched to these dns services wanting to get blocked.
What in god’s name is going on in this thread?
Good for them as in good for Italy not cloudflare, good fucking riddance
To give some context; this is all because boomers who don’t know shit about tech keep losing the money that they have invested in football.
Serie A has lost its prestige. The Nazionale can’t qualify for the WC. They keep losing viewership numbers and rather than optimizing their shit service they price gouge. People pirate football matches, the boomers (who mostly finance Meloni’s government) cry and despite the technical savvy experts repeatedly saying “this is fucking stupid, do not do this” the government acquiesces and passes draconian laws to monitor internet traffic.
Fuck boomers, fuck the Italian government, and fuck American corporations that have such monopolies they can bully governments.
Everything sucks here.
The Italian request ignores how the internet works, but Cloudflare’s response is even more concerning.
The request, which comes not from the government itself but from Italy’s independent telecommunications authority, is straightforward: apply a worldwide block to illegal content sourced from Italian companies. This is technically impossible (or at least not cost-effective), as Cloudflare explained. However, it remains true that if I want to stream illegal content, Cloudflare’s DNS is currently the best option.
What is truly worrying is the CEO’s outburst on X. Regardless of whether he is right, his reaction is alarming. The fine is not even confirmed yet, he can appeal to Italian courts and would likely win. Instead, he used this case to spread some sort of free speech propaganda, conflating it with many unrelated issues. He already did something similar a few months ago.
If the CEO of a critical infrastructure company feels free to threaten a country with this tone, that is deeply troubling. I will be looking for alternatives asap, though the problem is that no one else is as good (and as cheap) as Cloudflare.
Good riddance, get non-american/israeli alternatives (Imperva CDN/WAF is now french)
Italy put a penalty (some millions) to cloudflare, because they refuse to block piracy websites from their DNS services.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/01/cloudflare-may-pull-servers-out-of-italy-over-order-that-it-block-pirate-sites/
That’s why cloudflare believes they are important now and can push back to a whole damn country.
Instead of making viewing of football matches more affordable, we would rather block the internet for everyone in Italy. This is the arguments people are agreeing with, it’s literally just LaLiga blocking the internet for everyone during football matches because they don’t want pirates watching football.
Not the first time this is happening. AirVPN won’t operate in Italy (or more accurately for residents of Italy) either. Their laws are fucked.
As an italian, fuck Italy and fuck the chrony capitalism and dinosaurs trying to kill the internet for a few million euros to an already over rich and over spending industry.
Let’s hope CF fuck them hard. Imagine if this works and any government can fuck up the internet for everyone.
This is exactly what I warned about 15 years ago. FAANG and others are so powerful they can trigger or stop entire wars. All without state oversight.
Each day this tech companies act more and more like terrorists. Demands and threats is what we’ve heard of them on a daily basis.
Hmm
Cloud flair turning off Italy (essentially) would make the people angry enough to protest the decision to be reversed
Imagine going to wikipedia and seeing a message that says, sorry Italians cloud flair isn’t available in your country
I wish more sites blocked the UK instead of complying to scrape our passports to a third party
It’s wild to see a company reach this level of influence, but Italy’s approach does seem like a clumsy way to enforce its laws. Blocking at the ISP level would be a more sovereign move than trying to strong-arm a foreign corporation. Honestly, this whole situation just highlights the massive power imbalance that’s been building for years.
Can someone sum this up for me, so I understand the background to this?
> And it required us not just to censor the content in Italy but globally. In other words, Italy insists a shadowy, European media cabal should be able to dictate what is and is not allowed online.
Well… they’re just asking them to block illegal content. Don’t they already block globally illegal things? I think they do.
Leave DNS alone!
I’d like both Matthew Prince and CloudFlare to be upset/ripped off.