Standing up for the open Internet: why we appealed Italy’s "Piracy Shield" fine

Cloudflare is appealing the €14 million fine imposed by AGCOM after resisting registration for Piracy Shield, a move Cloudflare says challenges the legality of the Italian regime and its impact on the openness of the Internet. The company notes that the fine, roughly €14 million (~$17 million), followed a sequence of regulatory steps and court actions as it sought to challenge the scheme itself.

According to the European Commission, which issued a letter criticising the lack of oversight in Piracy Shield on 13 June 2025, these concerns align with Cloudflare’s claims about due process and transparency. Cloudflare argues that Piracy Shield operates without judicial oversight, transparency, or redress, and that AGCOM later expanded the system to apply to global DNS providers and VPNs, compounding the risks of overblocking.

The post describes ongoing legal actions in Italian administrative courts and a broader push at the EU level to reassess the framework in light of EU law, including the Digital Services Act. Cloudflare emphasises that its challenge is about protecting the integrity of the global Internet and ensuring that essential infrastructure remains open and accountable.