Agcom Fines Cloudflare Over 14 Million Euros for Violating Anti-Piracy Regulations
Agcom, the Italian communications authority, has imposed a fine of over 14 million euros on Cloudflare, a US-based company that provides content delivery network (CDN) and security services, for violating anti-piracy regulations. The fine was imposed due to Cloudflare’s failure to comply with an order to disable access to pirated content, as required by the Anti-Piracy Law 93/2023.
Background of the Case
The case began in February 2025, when Agcom ordered Cloudflare to disable the DNS resolution of domain names and the routing of network traffic to IP addresses reported by rights holders through the Piracy Shield platform. However, Cloudflare failed to adopt any measures to combat the use of its services for the dissemination of illicit content, despite being asked to do so. As a result, Agcom imposed a fine of 1% of Cloudflare’s global turnover, which amounts to over 14 million euros.
The fine is significant, not only because of its amount but also because it highlights the importance of complying with anti-piracy regulations. Agcom’s decision is based on the reference legislation, which provides for the imposition of a sanction of up to 2% of the turnover achieved in the last financial year closed before the notification of the dispute. In this case, the sanction was applied due to Cloudflare’s continuing violation of the anti-piracy law and the related Agcom implementing provisions.
Impact of the Decision
The decision has significant implications for the protection of online copyright. Cloudflare is a major player in the CDN market, and its services are used by a large percentage of websites that are blocked by Agcom for copyright infringement. By holding Cloudflare accountable for its role in facilitating the dissemination of pirated content, Agcom is sending a strong message to other providers of information society services that they must take steps to prevent the use of their services for illicit activities.
Since the adoption of the Piracy Shield platform in February 2024, over 65,000 FQDNs and approximately 14,000 IPs intended for the use of illicit content have been disabled. This decision demonstrates Agcom’s commitment to protecting online copyright and its determination to hold accountable those who facilitate the dissemination of pirated content.
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