#FAFO: When Infrastructure Becomes Intimidation - The Cloudflare vs. Italy Breakdown

Matthew Prince, CEO of the web infrastructure giant Cloudflare, issued a scorching public statement following a $17 million (€14.2 million) fine levied against his company by Italian authorities. The fine penalizes Cloudflare for failing to comply with Italy's controversial "Piracy Shield" law, a system that mandates internet service providers block access to alleged pirate sites within 30 minutes of notification, often without prior judicial review.

Prince did not merely announce an appeal; he declared an all-out counter-offensive. Describing the Italian regulatory body as a tool of a "shadowy cabal of European media elites," Prince slammed the law for lacking due process and demanding global censorship that violates democratic values. In a move that threatens to disrupt national infrastructure, he outlined a series of retaliatory measures Cloudflare is now considering: pulling millions in pro-bono cybersecurity for the upcoming Milano-Cortina Olympics, cutting free services for all Italian users, removing physical servers from the country, and cancelling all future investment in Italy. What began as a copyright dispute has now morphed into a high-stakes stand-off over digital sovereignty, with the security of a major global sporting event hanging in the balance.

Claims

Quasi-judicial body... fined Cloudflare $17 million.

The fine was issued by AGCOM (Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni), which is an independent administrative authority, not a court.

The fine is €14.2 million, which converts to approximately $15–$16 million depending on the exchange rate, or roughly 1% of Cloudflare's global turnover.

The fine was specifically for Cloudflare's refusal to block domains on its 1.1.1.1 public DNS resolver.

Required us within a mere 30 minutes... to fully censor.

The fine relates to Italy's "Piracy Shield" platform, launched in 2024. The law explicitly mandates that ISPs and DNS providers block access to reported IP addresses and domain names within 30 minutes of a notification.

These notices are often automated and filed directly by "trusted flaggers" (like the football league Serie A) without immediate human review by a judge.

No judicial oversight. No due process. No appeal.

Prince is correct that there is no prior judicial oversight. A judge does not sign off on the specific blocks before they happen; they are triggered administratively by private rights holders. If you had to compare them to anything, it would probably be a more active form of a DMCA Takedown. Which Cloudflare already deals with.

Prince’s claim of "No appeal" refers to the immediate process. You can appeal to a court (TAR Lazio), but the site is already blocked by then. Critics, including the EU, have noted that the redress mechanism is opaque and slow.

Shadowy cabal of European media elites.

Prince is referring to the rights holders (specifically Lega Serie A, the top Italian football league) who were instrumental in creating the law and are authorized to feed blocking targets into the system. This is unlikely to be the media organisations that he expects the heat to go towards. Considering, he also tagged JD Vance and Elon Musk. You can see where his alignment stands politically.

While "cabal" is rhetorical, there is factual backing for the "shadowy" description. The list of blocked domains is not public, and the platform itself was developed by a company affiliated with Lega Serie A, creating a documented conflict of interest that even Italian tech associations have criticized.

Italy insists... [we] censor content... globally.

The Italian law applies to any service provider worldwide if they serve Italian users. Technically, AGCOM only has jurisdiction to demand blocking for users in Italy.

Prince argues that for a global DNS resolver like 1.1.1.1, complying with country-specific blocklists destroys the technical "neutrality" of the service or forces a "global" change to avoiding splitting the network architecture.

While Italy likely didn't ask for a global block in writing, Prince is arguing that extraterritorial enforcement against a US company's global infrastructure forces a choice between breaking the architecture or blocking it globally.

The scheme... [which] even the EU has called concerning.

The European Commission explicitly sent a letter to the Italian government in mid-2025 warning that Piracy Shield may breach the Digital Services Act (DSA) and fundamental rights. They specifically flagged the lack of judicial oversight and the risk of over-blocking legitimate sites (which has already happened, including Google Drive and legitimate CDNs).

#FAFO Tweet

Matthew Prince’s use of the #FAFO ("Fuck Around and Find Out") hashtag to punctuate a hypothetical discussion about blacking out a G7 nation represents a catastrophic failure of executive responsibility.

As the CEO of a company that acts as a central nervous system for nearly 20% of the web, powering not just entertainment sites, but hospitals, banks, and government services. Prince is not merely a private businessman; he is the steward of critical global infrastructure. By publicly entertaining the "thought experiment" of a nationwide disconnection, he strips away Cloudflare’s veneer of neutrality. It signals to world leaders and customers alike that the company’s immense structural power is not a solemn utility to be protected, but a weapon to be brandished whenever regulatory disputes arise.

For a global CEO to treat the connectivity of 60 million people as a bargaining chip in a "stupid game" is not just unprofessional; it validates the very fears of centralization that regulators are trying to address.

Our Conclusion

Matthew Prince is engaging in 'The Enemy of My Enemy' politics. He is right that Italy's 'Piracy Shield' lacks due process and threatens internet stability. However, by aligning with JD Vance and Elon Musk, he is conflating technical internet freedom with a broader political war against regulation and utilizing dog whistles towards common right wing enemies.

It is possible to believe that Italy’s 30-minute blocking law is wrong AND to be outraged that Cloudflare is using it as an opportunity to cosy up to figures who have their own history of arbitrary moderation and hostility toward democratic oversight.

If you want an alternative to cloudflare, consider Bunny.net (Yes, it is a referrer link)