TAR Upholds Agcom's €14m Fine Against Cloudflare for Anti-Piracy Violations
Italy’s Lazio Regional Administrative Court, TAR, has upheld a fine of more than €14 million imposed by communications regulator Agcom on Cloudflare for failing to comply with the country’s anti piracy rules. The court rejected appeals filed by both Cloudflare Inc. and its European representative, Cloudflare Portugal.
The dispute originated with an Agcom order issued in February 2025 requiring Cloudflare to disable access to online content identified as infringing copyright. After Cloudflare failed to comply, Agcom launched enforcement proceedings and imposed the €14 million penalty in December.
Cloudflare challenged Agcom’s authority, arguing that under the EU Digital Services Act, regulatory and enforcement responsibility should belong to Portugal’s Anacom because Cloudflare’s European legal representative is based there. The company therefore claimed that the Italian regulator did not have jurisdiction to issue the blocking order or impose the subsequent penalty.
The TAR rejected this argument. It ruled that Italy’s Anti Piracy Law explicitly gives Agcom authority to order service providers, including VPN and DNS providers, to block access to copyright infringing material regardless of where those providers are based. The court also considered the €14 million penalty proportionate, taking into account both the seriousness of the infringement and Cloudflare’s financial capacity.
Lega Serie A CEO Luigi De Siervo described the rulings as an important victory for copyright protection and Italian professional sport. Serie A believes the decisions validate the legal and technological framework behind Italy’s Piracy Shield system and establish that major international technology companies must comply with Italian anti piracy measures when their services are involved.
