Italy’s communications authority AGCOM has fined Cloudflare €14.2 million for refusing to block pirate sites via its public DNS service 1.1.1.1, in accordance with the country’s controversial Piracy Shield law, reports Ars Technica.
The law, which was introduced in 2024, requires network operators and DNS services to block websites and IP addresses reported by copyright holders. Sometimes within just 30 minutes.
Cloudflare claims that the requirement is technically unreasonable and would impair DNS performance globally. Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince calls the law an attempt at censorship without due process and writes that the company will appeal the decision.
