It is open war, not only legal, between the Lega Calcio Serie A and CloudFlare, the cloud service provider fined 14 million euros by Agcom for violating anti-piracy regulations and, in particular, for failing to comply with the obligations of collaboration with Piracy Shield, the platform created to counter the spread of pirated sites that broadcast championship and European cup matches.
Back and forth within a few hours. A very harsh exchange that will almost certainly end up in front of the judges because the leaders of Via Rosellini, after having received the Agency’s verdict with satisfaction, wanted to immediately respond to the attack coming from the CEO of the US giant. Which also involved the US government and Elon Musk, owner of X, in the dispute.
Cloudflare against Lega Serie A: the message from CEO Prince
So he wrote Matthew PrinceCEO of CloudFlare, commenting on the fine issued by Agcom. A post on platform X to attack the Lega Serie A and the Italian sanctioning system: “Yesterday a quasi-judicial body in Italy fined @Cloudflare $17 million for failing to comply with their Internet censorship plan. The plan, which even the EU called worrying, required us, within just 30 minutes of notification, to completely censor from the Internet any site that a shadowy cabal of European media elites deemed to be against their interests. No judicial oversight. No due process. No appeals. No transparency. It required us not only to remove customers, but also to censor our DNS resolver 1.1.1.1, which meant risking obscuring every site on the Internet. And it required censoring content not just in Italy, but globally, Italy insists that a shadowy European media cabal must be able to dictate what is and isn’t allowed online.
This, of course, is DISGUSTING and, even before yesterday’s fine, we had several ongoing legal challenges against the system behind all of this. We, of course, will now fight this unfair fine. Not just because it’s wrong for us, but because it’s wrong for democratic values.
Additionally, we are evaluating the following actions:
- disrupt cybersecurity services pro bono by the millions of dollars we are providing for the upcoming Milan-Cortina Olympics;
- discontinue Cloudflare’s free cybersecurity services for any user based in Italy;
- remove all servers from Italian cities;
- cancel all plans to build a Cloudflare office in Italy or make investments in the country.
To stupid games, stupid prizes. While there are things I would handle differently than the current US administration, I appreciate that @JDVance is taking a leadership role in recognizing that this type of regulation is a fundamental issue of unfair trade that also threatens democratic values. And in this case @ElonMusk is right: #FreeSpeech is fundamental and under attack by a clique disconnected from the reality of very disturbed European political decision-makers.
I will be in Washington DC early next week to discuss this with US administration officials and will meet with the IOC in Lausanne soon after to outline the risk to the Olympic Games if @Cloudflare withdraws our cybersecurity protection.
In the meantime, we remain available to discuss the matter with Italian government officials who, so far, have been unwilling to engage beyond issuing fines. We believe that Italy, like all countries, has the right to regulate content on networks within its borders. But they must do so following the rule of law and the principles of due process. And Italy certainly has no right to regulate what is and is not allowed on the Internet in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, China, Brazil, India, or anywhere outside its borders.
THIS IS AN IMPORTANT BATTLE AND WE WILL WIN!!!”
Lega Serie A’s response: “Mystifications, threats and falsehoods”
The response was very harsh Serie A Football League: “The statements by the CEO of CloudFlare, Matthew Prince, are a mass of mystifications, threats and falsehoods that are astounding and which damage the American company itself. The fine imposed by Agcom, perfectly justified, has nothing to do with internet censorship, but concerns exclusively the sacrosanct protection of copyright, on live sports, as well as on cinematographic and television audiovisual products.
CloudFlare was sanctioned because it is the only large company that, by choice of its CEO, refuses any collaboration with the Authorities, with law enforcement agencies, with rights holders and even with judges and for this reason it represents the first and most common choice made by criminal associations to manage their illicit services precisely because of this determination to allow acts of piracy. This happens not only in Italy but throughout the world, as demonstrated by the numerous judicial decisions against CloudFlare for example in France, Spain, Belgium, as well as in Italy.
It is false that the European Union has expressed concern about the Italian content protection system which, on the contrary, was formally judged by the European Commission to be perfectly consistent with European legislation. The serious statements and repeated threats expressed by the CEO of CloudFlare will be brought to the attention of the competent authorities, they highlight the arrogance of a certain type of Tech companies who think they can operate outside their national borders in defiance of any protection of intellectual property rights of personal data, premium cinema, TV series and sports content. The hope is that Prince is forced to resign and that an important company like CloudFlare immediately stops telling lies and above all protects criminals.”
Also La Liga against CloudFlare
The battle for the protection of rights linked to the broadcast of football matches (and not only) does not only concern Serie A. After ClouFlare’s message, the Spanish La Liga also took the field through its number one Javier Tebas. A response addressed to the public and government authorities of the United States: “Fighting piracy does not mean censoring or attacking freedom of expression. It means fighting criminal activity. Don’t distort the debate.
CloudFlare continues to ignore the laws and institutions of other countries, seeking only to impose its will and promote its own business, while favoring those who commit intellectual property crimes. It continues to issue direct public threats to European users and attempts to manipulate political institutions and leaders. It’s not just Italy: there are also judicial rulings in Spain and Japan, among other countries.
@elonmusk , @JDVance , intellectual property protection is based on court rulings, due process and the rule of law, not arbitrary or opaque decisions. Piracy is not a victimless crime. In the sports sector, it threatens the sustainability of clubs, thousands of jobs and reinvestment in grassroots and youth football.
In Spain alone, more than 35% of pirated La Liga content continues to be distributed via CloudFlare’s infrastructure, despite thousands of warnings and legal actions already implemented by Internet service providers. Demanding that technological intermediaries respect the law does not mean censoring the Internet. It means fighting organized audiovisual fraud and ensuring the sustainability of a global cultural and sporting industry. How much longer will they be able to enjoy impunity?”.
