Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines • Hacker News Board

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#21

Post by Hikikomori » Fri, Jan 09, 2026, 5:14 PM UTC

bflesch wrote: post #11

Not a good look on that guy to list his "pro-bono" services and threaten to pull them while asking JD Vance for his help. How is he expecting the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics to influence some representative of media right holders who have fined Cloudflare? Is he assuming that just because all of the listed things are Italian they can just make the fine go away?

Was with him in the first part, then wtf. Vance and the others dont stand for free speech either, it's only their own speech that matters and they'll proudly ban anything else.

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#22

Post by everfrustrated » Fri, Jan 09, 2026, 5:14 PM UTC

bflesch wrote: post #11

Not a good look on that guy to list his "pro-bono" services and threaten to pull them while asking JD Vance for his help. How is he expecting the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics to influence some representative of media right holders who have fined Cloudflare? Is he assuming that just because all of the listed things are Italian they can just make the fine go away?

It seems the panel that fined him is politically appointed so seems reasonable to reach for politics to attempt to fight/resolve it.

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#23

Post by wmf » Fri, Jan 09, 2026, 5:14 PM UTC

bflesch wrote: post #11

Not a good look on that guy to list his "pro-bono" services and threaten to pull them while asking JD Vance for his help. How is he expecting the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics to influence some representative of media right holders who have fined Cloudflare? Is he assuming that just because all of the listed things are Italian they can just make the fine go away?

Politics tends to work that way.

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#24

Post by ilc » Fri, Jan 09, 2026, 5:15 PM UTC

littlestymaar wrote: post #15

adrr wrote: post #4

Elon Musk the bastion of free speech who famously banned a twitter account that posted publicly available information.

One? Elon banned thousands after he took over. He event went as far as personally canceling a Tesla customer's order for criticizing him. That's how petty he is. He has no interest in freedom of speech whatsoever, it's merely a talking point.

I disagree.

Freedom of Speech guarantees the right to speak. Not the right to have no repercussions.

Elon has GREAT interest in Freedom of Speech, it enables him to have far more power than regulating the type of "speech" he showed in cancelling that customer's order.

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#25

Post by adrr » Fri, Jan 09, 2026, 5:15 PM UTC

IncreasePosts wrote: post #19

adrr wrote: post #4

Elon Musk the bastion of free speech who famously banned a twitter account that posted publicly available information.

If someone says they believe in free speech, they have to let me spraypaint anything I want on their house. Otherwise they're a hypocrite.

Italy can use the same argument.

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#26

Post by sammy2255 » Fri, Jan 09, 2026, 5:15 PM UTC

oytis wrote: post #18

Rhetoric is somewhat off, but I have to use 1.1.1.1 to access Anna's Archive from Germany, so he has a point.

[flagged]

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#27

Post by R_Spaghetti » Fri, Jan 09, 2026, 5:16 PM UTC

Another reason to dump an american big tech firm and switch to Bunny.net for example. Better a democratic based error than an american greed based CEO.

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#28

Post by anticristi » Fri, Jan 09, 2026, 5:17 PM UTC

This is great news! Who would have expected Cloudflare to truly contribute to EU digital sovereignty.

On a more serious note, I'm surprised Cloudflare wants to pull out of Italy. Being a company which terminates TLS connections for Italy must be a gold mine for the NSA.

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#29

Post by pavel_lishin » Fri, Jan 09, 2026, 5:17 PM UTC

grayhatter wrote: post #13

I do appreciate reading a PR, from a CEO, that's not unsalvageably tone deaf. At the first half, I was wondering what the point of this was, given if Italy thinks this is something they're allowed to apply across the globe. That instantly makes this a political issue they probably need to be talking to the State Department about. Then I got to the 2nd half, and was impressed that I wasn't immediately annoyed by the a…

> was impressed that I wasn't immediately annoyed by any ass kissing.

Did it only annoy you after reading it again?

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#30

Post by grayhatter » Fri, Jan 09, 2026, 5:17 PM UTC

bflesch wrote: post #11

Not a good look on that guy to list his "pro-bono" services and threaten to pull them while asking JD Vance for his help. How is he expecting the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics to influence some representative of media right holders who have fined Cloudflare? Is he assuming that just because all of the listed things are Italian they can just make the fine go away?

He replies to an Italian user

> We can’t offer free services in a country that fines us millions unreasonably. Fix your government or lose access to our charity.

On one hand, I agree with you, it's problematic to threaten collective punishment. However, I don't think it's unreasonable to "divest" from a country trying to fine you for behavior outside of said country. It's also important to communicate that clearly, and unfortunately bluntly. Did you have a different expectation or suggestion for what they should do?