Lega Calcio Serie A's position over Cloudflare CEO statements

The statements made by Cloudflare CEO, Matthew Prince, are a collection of distortions, threats, and falsehoods that are both astonishing and damaging to the American company itself.

Elon Musk, James David Vance, the sanction imposed by AGCOM, fully justified, has nothing to do with internet censorship. It concerns solely the legitimate and necessary protection of copyright—whether for live sports or for movie and television content.

Cloudflare was sanctioned because it is the only major global company that, by choice of its CEO, systematically refuses any and all cooperation with authorities, law enforcement, rights holders, and even courts. For this reason, it has become the first and most common choice of criminal organizations for operating their illegal services, precisely because of its determined stance in enabling acts of piracy.

This happens not only in Italy but across the world, as demonstrated by numerous legal rulings against Cloudflare in France, Spain, Belgium, and of course, in Italy as well.

It is simply false to claim that the European Union has expressed concern over the Italian content protection system. On the contrary, the European Commission has formally and explicitly recognized the system as fully compliant with EU law, the Digital Services Act (DSA), and the Commission’s Recommendation on the protection of sports broadcasting rights and related content.

As for the technical measures requested, it should be emphasized that what Cloudflare refuses to do has long been regularly implemented by hundreds of internet service providers registered on the platform, as well as by the main DNS resolution service providers—precisely the service Cloudflare offers and which is widely exploited by users of illegal services to bypass the blocks imposed by the competent authorities.

Finally, the serious statements and repeated threats made by Cloudflare’s CEO will be promptly reported to the competent authorities, but they should also raise concern within society as a whole and policymakers not only in Italy, but across the globe. They reveal the arrogance of a certain type of tech company that believes it can operate beyond its national borders while disregarding any protection of intellectual property, personal data, or premium content in cinema, television, and sports, especially in a country like ours, where balance and the rule of law have been cornerstones for over 2,000 years.

The hope is that Matthew Prince will be forced to resign, and that a company as important as Cloudflare will immediately stop spreading lies and, above all, stop protecting criminals.